Biomet, a major manufacturer of artificial hips and knees, said on December 18th that it had agreed to a $10.9 billion buyout offer from a private investment consortium.

The bid came from affiliates of the Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company and the Texas Pacific Group. Biomet said the private investment group was also expected to include Dane A. Miller, a co-founder of Biomet in 1977 and its longtime chief executive until he resigned in April, citing disagreements with the board.

Abstract:
Tourniquet use is effective in producing a bloodless field. It is recommended that the least effective pressures be used to minimize tissue microstructure and biochemical damage from tourniquet application. When applied at the thigh, the minimum effective tourniquet pressure is 90 to 100 mm Hg above systolic BP, and in a normotensive, nonobese patient, pressure of 250 mm Hg is sufficient. Similarly, an arm tourniquet pressure of 200 mm Hg is recommended.

The purpose of this survey was to assess the tourniquet pressures used by orthopaedic surgeons, both academic and community based, and their familiarity with associated literature.

The VerSys Epoch Hip Prosthesis' distinct composite stem design has a low modulus of elasticity to address concerns about proximal bone resorption resulting from stress shielding, as well as concerns about thigh pain that can result from a bending stiffness mismatch between the prosthesis and natural bone, particularly with larger stems. It was created to offer an extensively porous-coated implant in larger stem sizes without a significant increase in stem stiffness when compared to smaller sizes or proximally coated implants.