Tenex is an innovative technology just landed in Europe for an old and quite common problem: excessive use of the joint that produces damaged and necrotic tendon tissue that generates pain, limits movement and takes time to heal naturally.
Current treatments are insufficient: cortisone injection “masks” pain and damages tissue, while open surgery is the last option for patients due to the long recovery period involved.
We have the solution with TENEX, with which we replicate the surgical approach, but in a minimally invasive way, using an ultrasound-guided system and our own disposable percutaneous instrument: the TX System. TENEX is a disposable surgical instrument that uses focused ultrasonic energy to treat tendinosis by removing soft tissue.
The Tenex Health TX System is designed to perform percutaneous tenotomy in patients suffering from soft tissue tendon pain. After administration of a local anesthetic, mild ultrasonic energy is used to safely destroy and remove damaged tissue through a MicroTip, which requires only a microincision to reach the damaged tissue. Because the incision is so small and the ultrasonic energy precisely treats only the damaged tendon tissue, the surrounding healthy tissue is left unscathed, and patients enjoy faster recovery compared to traditional open surgical procedures.
The system is controlled by the Tenex Health TX Console, a self-contained, portable device that includes an easy-load, one-step tubing set and a one-touch quick prime cycle. Simple touch controls guide the operator through the treatment interface, with computer-guided programming instructions and user parameter adjustments at a glance.
Three microtips are available: the TX1, the TX2, an extended length version of the TX1 that allows clinicians to complete the procedure in regions of the body that are typically not accessible with the shorter instrument. And the TXB, being the TX-Bone the version for soft and hard tissues, referring to hard tissues to bone parts such as spurs, calcifications, minutes, etc.
The MicroTip, this is what microtips are called, contains its own technology. It develops an optimized ultrasonic energy that, at maximum power, the needle goes at a speed of 25,000 revolutions per second. Precisely cuts diseased tendon tissue while preserving healthy tendon tissue (diseased, necrotic tissue is biomechanically different from healthy, elastic tissue).
Cutting of the target tissue is achieved by longitudinal movement of the beveled needle at the speed of sound (ultrasonic). The tissue is cut using the “hammer effect”. It is connected to an IV bag since continuous saline irrigation has two essential functions. On the one hand, it cools the tip of the MicroTip, preventing it from overheating and burning both the tip itself and the tissue in contact. And, moreover, it emulsifies to effectively remove the target tissue.
This intervention is minimally invasive. It requires local anesthesia and therefore it is an outpatient procedure that is performed in less than 20 minutes. TENEX leaves nothing to chance, thanks to its technology in the MicroTip there is no risk of unintentionally dissecting the entire tendon nor is it attacking the healthy tendon area.
The ultrasonic frequency is specific for damaged tissue and does not affect healthy tendon. It is similar to receiving a cataract in the eye, but it does not remove a normal cornea. TENEX requires an ecoguided machine. The function it develops is vital to be able to follow the process with live images, being able to analyze the state of the tendon or spur at all times and to be able to have an optimal final result.
One of the many advantages that the TENEX kit has is that it can be used in a practice. The clinic or office must have authorization for outpatient minor outpatient surgery, which includes surgery performed in the office (Office-Based Surgery), invasive diagnostic-therapeutic procedures or procedures that require sedation and that are performed outside the surgical area. This authorization is issued directly by the Government of the community.
Independent scientific investigations give an average efficacy after analyzing all the pathologies higher than 85%, being even in some pathologies higher than 90%. To date there are 62 independent studies published, and a retrospective analysis project of 1,000 patients is currently underway for publication.
TENEX offers patients a fast and precise solution for the treatment of acute and chronic pathologies. Thanks to this procedure carried out by TENEX, the postoperative period is reduced from about three or four months, depending on the pathology that the patient has, up to six weeks.
Due to this short recovery period, TENEX is ideal for those athlete patients who need to return to their daily training routine or their competitions as soon as possible; self-employed who cannot be on leave for a long time, or patients who have been suffering from pain for a long time and who have no solution with other options that are mostly more aggressive and expensive.
I invite all of you who suffer from a pathology in which TENEX can solve your pathological picture to contact your specialist doctor so that they can inform you about this new equipment. Or if you have a professional group in the sector and you want to apply this equipment in your daily life to solve the problems that your patients present in an effective, minimally invasive way and with a substantial shortening of the postoperative period, do not hesitate to find out about this new equipment.
