Question: How long does it take to build one replacement ankle?

Claire Brockett answered on 17 Jun 2014:

Hi anyadouras
Wow, you’re really asking a tricky question to answer 🙂
So, first, lets just think about a replacement ankle that is already designed, and we already know works ok.
An ankle replacement is made from 3 pieces – two metal parts that fit into the bone and a plastic part that sits between the two metal bits and allows the ankle to move. Each of the metal parts needs to be machined to an exact shape – and this is where specialist equipment, as well as expert manufacturing and quality engineers, comes in – as they have to be made to a very precise size and shape. Once that’s happened, the side of the metal that moves with the plastic needs to be polishing to a mirror finish, and the other side needs to be coated with a special material, called hydroxyapatite (basically the same material as bone) which helps bone grow into the replacement and stop it falling out. The plastic part is usually moulded, and then machined to shape, and then everything needs to be sterilised and packed safely before it’s sent off to hospital. Some of these steps are quite slow, so if we followed one ankle replacement along the manufacturing route it might take more than 24 hours – but the machinery means that many of these are made at once.