Abstract
Technological innovation is the key for surgical progress in knee arthroplasty and
improvement in patient outcomes. Exploring patented technologies can help elucidate
trends and growth for numerous innovative technologies. However, patent databases,
which contain millions of patents, remain underused in arthroplasty research. Therefore,
the present study aimed to: (1) quantify patent activity; (2) group patents related
to similar technologies into well-defined clusters; and (3) compare growth between
technologies in the field of knee arthroplasty over a 30-year period. An open-source
international patent database was queried from January 1990 to January 2020 for all
patents related to knee arthroplasty A search strategy identified 70,154 patents,
of which 24,425 were unique and included analysis. Patents were grouped into 14 independent
technology clusters using Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) codes. Patent activity
was normalized via a validated formula adjusting for exponential growth. Compound
annual growth rates (CAGR) were calculated (5-year, 10-year, and 30-year CAGR) and
compared for each cluster. Overall yearly patent activity increased by 2,023%, from
104 patents in 1990 to 2,208 patents in 2020. The largest technology clusters were
“drugs” (n = 5,347; 23.8%), “components” (n = 4,343; 19.0%), “instruments” (n = 3,130; 13.7%), and “materials” (n = 2,378; 10.4%). The fastest growing technologies with their 5-year CAGR were: “user
interfaces for surgical systems” (58.1%); “robotics” (28.6%); “modularity” (21.1%);
“navigation” (15.7%); and “computer modeling” (12.5%). Since 1990, overall patent
growth rate has been greatest for “computer modeling” (8.4%), “robotics” (8.0%), “navigation”
(7.9%), and “patient-specific instrumentation” (6.4%). Most patents in knee arthroplasty
for the last 30 years have focused on drugs, components, instruments, and materials.
Recent exponential growth was mainly observed for user interfaces for surgical systems,
robotics, modularity, navigation, and computer-assisted technologies. Innovation theory
would suggest that these rapidly growing technologies are experiencing high innovation
output, increased resource investments, growing adoption by providers, and significant
clinical impact. Periodic monitoring of technological innovation via patent databases
can be useful to establish trends and future directions in the field of knee arthroplasty.
Keywords
technological innovation - patents - knee arthroplasty - knee - orthopaedics - research
- technology
