Surgeon, Niel Kang of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust and ODEP (Orthopaedic Data Evaluation Panel) with medical students Geethana Yogarajah and Khalid Guma’a ask the question – What has changed in the way we evaluate shoulder & elbow arthroplasty data?
Since the formation of the ODEP Shoulder arthroplasty panel in 2017 there has been a sustained growth of shoulder arthroplasty procedures. The UK National Joint Registry (NJR) introduced shoulder arthroplasty procedures in 2012 and demonstrated significant increases (> 25-30 per cent growth annually) in implantation between 2012 and 2015, followed by steady growth in the 5 years up to the pandemic (Table 1).
Why should I care about implants?
As a patient, you can look up whether your surgeon’s operative record and the details of your procedure, – but what about the performance of the implant? Is your implant any good? This is where ODEP ratings come in. These ratings are also used by surgeons and hospital procurement to inform their decision to use specific implants.
What does the ODEP rating of my implant mean?
An ODEP rating is independent of the materials/manufacturing of the implant, but rather relies on evidence about how long the implant lasts and whether or not a reoperation has occurred.
Image 1 shows what a typical ODEP rating looks like.
A lower ODEP rating does not correlate with how good an implant is, but could instead mean that it has been in use for fewer years (early evidence is not a reliable predictor of long-term success) or not in high enough volume. A product’s ODEP rating is removed if it does not follow the expected progression through the rating benchmarks.
Image 1 showing what an ODEP rating looks like (https://www.odep.org.uk/about/rating-system/)
How does ODEP give these ratings?