Using the new super-elastic stapes nitinol piston prostheses removes the critical surgical step of crimping the piston loop to the long process of incus during stapes surgery.
Prof. Dr. S. Preyer
The average diameter of the incus is 0.7 mm, but the exact diameter can vary from patient to patient. For this reason an incus fork with 0.7 mm diameter was developed in collaboration with Prof. Serena Preyer, to ascertain the proper size of stapes prostheses. The size of the hook is determined by simply placing the incus fork over the incus.
Preyer incus fork (Art. No. 10-670-00)
Superelastic Nitinol
Superelastic Nitinol = mechanical effect Thermo-Reactive Nitinol = thermal effect
Prof. Dr. med. Serena Preyer
Head of ENT
Deaconess Hospital
Karlsruhe, Germany
Nitinol features a unique material behavior. Small changes to the composition and the manufacturing process allow you to change the effect of the mechanical shape memory (super-elasticity) or the thermal shape memory (shape memory effect).
The alloy is light-weight with excellent biocompatibility. The super-elasticity causes the material to return to its original shape through its intrinsic tension when not under load. Unlike the shape memory effect, no temperature changes are necessary and the potential risk of heat-induced necrosis is virtually eliminated. Furthermore, the surgical procedure is abbreviated because no heating of the prosthesis is required.