Implant Registers
This article was originally published in RAJ Devices
Executive Summary
Finnish agency publishes annual report on endoprosthetic procedures
Finnish agency publishes annual report on endoprosthetic procedures
The Finnish National Agency for Medicines (NAM) has published its latest annual report on orthopaedic implant procedures in Finland.
As a new feature, the report, The 2004 Implant Yearbook on Orthopaedic Endoprostheses (Finnish Arthroplasty Register), provides the comparability of a single endoprosthesis to other endoprostheses by survival curves at a glance1. The structure of the tables places more emphasis on current data rather than on historical information (which still features in the report). In addition, there is an attempt to look ahead by assessing future trends in orthopaedic implant surgery. This assessment was based on current operation statistics in the population over 40 years. The assumption was that characteristic operation numbers will remain constant in each age group and thus the forecast will only reflect the influence of the ageing of the population.
The report provides for the first time information on the time spent in hospital at the time of arthroplasty. It is encouraging that the length of hospital stay has decreased slightly over the past 10 years.
The data content of the register has frequently been compared with other centralised national patient registers. The coverage of the register data content has repeatedly been excellent and the register covers practically 100% of Finnish arthroplasties.
The recording of endoprosthetic surgical procedures has a long history in Finland. The implant register that contains data on orthopaedic endoprostheses and dental implants has been maintained by the NAM since 1995, but national data have been inserted in the same register since 1980. The data collected during this long, uninterrupted period have produced valuable information for many and various purposes.
PETRI POMMELIN
References
1. Rantanen P, Keinonen A, Mäkelä A, The 2004 Implant Yearbook on Orthopaedic Endoprostheses, Finnish Arthroplasty Register, Publications of the National Agency for Medicines 2/2006, www.nam.fi/english/publications, www.nam.fi/uploads/julkaisut/laitteet_ja_tarvikkeet/Yearbook_2004.pdf