AI-supported ZEISS solution checks implant coatings automatically.

It couldn't be simpler

Smith & Nephew is a London-based medical technology group specializing in bone and tissue reconstruction, wound healing and joint replacement. Among other things, hip stem prostheses are coated at the Aarau site in Switzerland. An AI-supported software solution in combination with the ZEISS Axio Imager Z2m light microscope is used for quality inspection. The ZEISS solution delivers the results within a few minutes thanks to automated image segmentation.

The required thickness of the titanium and hydroxyapatite layer in a polar stem for hip reconstruction is between 155 and 305 micrometers. Since the Group, which operates in around 100 countries, has been coating implants in Aarau, the ZEISS Imager light microscope has been used to check the layer thickness. Since summer 2022, the medical technology company in Aarau, which employs around 15,000 people worldwide, has also been working with a ZEISS Axio Imager.Z2m.

AI-supported image segmentation

Until now, measuring layer thicknesses required a trained eye and a lot of human intervention. Without AI support, the analysis process with a POLARSTEM therefore takes 45 to 60 minutes. It is now ten times faster since Smith+Nephew started working with the ZEISS Axio Imager.Z2m light microscope. With this one-click solution, a comprehensive protocol with values for layer thickness and porosity is available after just five to seven minutes. This has two advantages for Smith+Nephew: Operators can now use more of their working time for other tasks such as masking the implants. In addition, potential production problems can now be identified more quickly.

This drastic acceleration of the measuring process is made possible by AI-supported image segmentation. Operators of the ZEISS Axio Imager.Z2m now only need to align the sample and start the ZEISS ZEN core software - everything else is automated. "It couldn't be simpler," says Stéphane Monod, responsible for quality at Smith+Nephew's Aarau site. "And no matter who would examine this sample, the measurement results would always be the same" - another advantage, and not just for medical technology companies.

Equipped for the future

The Senior Manufacturing Quality Engineer is also enthusiastic about the AI-supported ZEISS solution for another reason: "With ZEISS Axio Imager.Z2m, we are also equipped for future standard requirements." In addition to checking the coating thickness, the porosity of the applied titanium and hydroxyapatite layer is also determined. This is a characteristic value that implant manufacturers will have to prove in future according to the ISO 13485 standard.

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