annual growth in operations, it is reasonable to estimate that 12,500 such
cartilage implantations occurred in 2014.
Today there are numerous soft-tissue operations performed on every
particular bit of real estate in the human body—from the little toe to the
sternoclavicular joint at the breastbone. Combined, these cases approach
several hundred thousand operations. Totaling these together with ACL
reconstruction, cuff repair, meniscus repair, shoulder stabilization, hip
surgery, and cartilage implantation, the US market was approximately two
million procedures in 2014.
ORTHOPEDIC SUMMARYIn 2014, the total number of operations by subject were:
Sports Medicine: 2,000,000
Fracture operations: 1,928,000
Joint replacement: 1,381,300
Spine instrumentation: 778,180Combined, there were 6,087,480 orthopedic and spine device
implantation operations in 2014.
CARDIOVASCULARThe heart, lungs and great vessels are addressed by cardiothoracic
surgeons, cardiologists, and vascular surgeons. Prior to angiography,
cardiologists performed few procedures, but as minimally invasive
techniques improve, cardiologists perform more interventions every year,
some of which are nothing short of unbelievable.
Cardiothoracic surgeons specialize in performing “open-heart” surgery,
with coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), valve repair or replacement,
lung resections, and treatment of the great vessels. While many lung
operations are performed “thorascopically,” or with the use of endoscopic