AOFAS Savannah Preview: MIS Achilles and the New Launches

Unsolicited advice for exhibitors and surgeons, plus a challenger to Arthrex PARS.

Originally published September 9, 2025 — Arthrex · Enovis · InduceXT · Treace · Vilex

MIS Achilles and other MIS Launches

It’s been a minute since the last drop, but what better time to fire things back up than summer meeting season? This year AOFAS takes us to Savannah, where the halls will once again be lined with elaborate booths, glossy marketing decks, and plenty of industry hustle—everyone hoping the foot traffic matches the booth spend.

A little unsolicited advice from Big Foot...

Exhibitors

Don’t whine about traffic. The size of today’s exhibit floor is proof of how far foot & ankle has come in the last 15 years. Those booth dollars fund the society, keep the community tight, and ultimately support the surgeons using your gear. If you want attention? Give them something to talk about. Make your booth worth the stop.

Surgeons

Do your part. Stroll the floor, check out the little guys, and schmooze with the big guys. Like it or not, ROI for exhibitors gets judged by surgeon engagement—so if you want this meeting model to survive, shake a few more hands in the hall. Or go nuts and sign up for an INDUSTRY SYMPOSIUM!

The AOFAS Summer Meeting remains the best get-together in foot & ankle, and I hope it stays that way. Let’s make Savannah one to remember. Here is a quick link to the IN PERSON MEETING PROGRAM so you can plan ahead.

And as always, FAN lands randomly in the inboxes of 20k+ surgeons and industry folks. If you’re looking for a marketing channel that cuts a little different, you know where to find us: footandanklenews@gmail.com.

Thanks to InduceXT for sponsoring this edition of FAN.

InduceXT – Unlock the Matrix

Tired of white-box biologics? InduceXT isn’t another sticker-swap allograft. Powered by proprietary NMP® technology, InduceXT unlocks growth factors trapped in bone—BMP-2, BMP-7, TGF-B1, VEGF, PDGF—making them bio-available when your patients need them most. InduceXT’s NMP® technology delivers a controlled, sustained release that aligns with the body’s natural bone healing and remodeling process. Add in easy handling (packable, irrigation-resistant, 5-year shelf life), and you’ve got a biologic that’s built different.

Don’t miss the AOFAS Rooftop After Dinner Event this Thursday night, where Dr. Turner Vosseller, MD, Dr. Donald Covell, MD and Dr. Aron Green, MD will be available to discuss real world fusion cases

REGISTER HERE

This Week in FAN

Golden Demobone - Social Media Award
FAN JAMS: OR Playlist "OrthoCarolina" Edition
Little Guy, Big Idea: TendMin
New Product Launches: MIS
Enovis
Vilex
Treace
FAN Resources: Meetings, Podcasts, & More

As we head into AOFAS, it’s clear MIS will dominate the conversation—not just this year, but for years to come at academic meetings.

With all the bunion buzz, people sometimes forget that scoping is the OG of MIS surgery. Our winner this week is an Army Veteran and a master in the art of scopes!

Congrats to this week’s Golden Demobone winner, Dr. Kevin Martin, DO, for pushing the boundaries and sharing his knowledge. From foot & ankle sports medicine to fractures to patient follow-ups, his social media content is exactly why the Golden Demobone exists.

His featured post highlights the Arthrex Nanoscope in action with a talar body non-union case. Check it out HERE — and don’t miss the rest of his posts.

FAN JAMS: Playlists of the Foot & Ankle

Bob? Hodges? Bruce? …. Nope.

Known to some as the “Ringo” of OrthoCarolina, today we present the OR playlist of the one and only Dr. Carrol Jones, MD.

Dr. Jones lays down some solid tracks with a southern rock twang, providing a nice mix to get you through the toughest of cases.

Thank you Dr. Jones, we appreciate your contribution to Foot and Ankle and the FAN OR Playlist Series. Just kidding about the Ringo thing!

LISTEN HERE

LITTLE GUY, BIG IDEA

Aztron Medtech's TendMIN

If there’s a single drumbeat at AOFAS right now, it’s MIS, MIS, MIS. Every foot & ankle company—big or small—is scrambling to fatten up their minimally invasive portfolios. It’s the frontier, it’s the future, and the race is on.

Enter Aztron Medtech. After five years of grinding in the R&D trenches, Aztron is stepping into the spotlight with TendMIN, its minimally invasive Achilles repair system. The timing couldn’t be better.

A Challenger to the Throne

For more than a decade, Arthrex’s PARS system has been the undisputed king of percutaneous Achilles repair. Estimated at $60M annually, PARS has become the gold standard—used on everyone from pro athletes to weekend warriors. Like TightRope's long run before it, PARS is the kind of category-defining product competitors have no answer for.

But every king eventually faces a challenger. Astron believes TendMIN is that challenger.

What Sets TendMIN Apart

Smaller incision, bigger accuracy. TendMIN can replicate PARS outcomes with a smaller footprint.
Ultrasound-enabled precision. Through a partnership with Asus, Aztron equips reps with sleek, wireless ultrasound units that sync to an iPad right in the OR. Ultrasound isn’t mandatory, but it offers surgeons real-time visualization that could set a new bar for MIS accuracy. Worst case it's a nice marketing tool!
Ergonomic instrumentation. Unique suture-passing needles and a grasper make the system intuitive in the surgeon’s hands.

TendMIN is flexible in that it can be used for traditional end to end repairs with or without locking sutures, dealers choice. If you like to dock anchors in the calc, the system can be used in conjunction with knotless anchors (not included...yet).

The Bigger Picture

Every major ortho player wants more sports medicine firepower in foot & ankle. Arthrex has dominated the space, but challengers are circling:

Stryker just paid up for Artelon and is seeing returns—would they double down and buy TendMIN?
Enovis has planted its flag in MIS and has the acquisition track record to prove it.
Conmed, with one of the strongest soft-tissue portfolios outside Arthrex, could use a differentiator like TendMIN to level up.

Final Take

Aztron may be small, but TendMIN is a big swing. In a market obsessed with MIS and hungry for real innovation, this device could be the next domino to fall in foot & ankle M&A. Whether it’s Stryker, Enovis, Conmed—or someone else—don’t be surprised if TendMIN finds itself on an acquisition deck sooner rather than later.

AOFAS NEW PRODUCT LAUNCHES: AOFS MIS EDITION

This is what we’re all here for—new products that promise to make surgery more reproducible or help companies claw market share from the competition.

Industry driven MIS products rule the new product landscape this year.

The word “gamechanger” gets thrown around a little too easily in product launches… so, any true gamechangers lately? We’ll let you be the judge.

Enovis

PECA 2.0 Wires First Guide

Jigs are now a fact of life in foot & ankle. Some have made surgery more reproducible, while others feel like building an IKEA wardrobe—too many steps, too much time, and plenty of surgeon frustration.

The PECA 2.0 Wires First Guide aims for simplicity. Proximal wires are often the most frustrating, time-consuming part of MIS bunions. This jig flips the script by using the distal anchor point as both your guide and starting point for the burr cut—streamlining the whole process.

Enovis has been hyping PECA 2.0 across social channels, but details have been scarce—no technique guides, no slick animations yet. Never fear, FANS: we tracked down a spoiler courtesy of Brad Abicht’s Instagram (watch here) , which offers a quick look at the jig in action along with some case examples.

Vilex

Artemis Zadex Guide

The first of its kind, the Artemis guide is designed to harness the growing buzz around MIS closing-wedge Zadek osteotomies. Up to now, most procedures have been freehand—done by the diehards pushing the boundaries of minimally invasive calcaneal work.

The big question: will a jig bring Zadek into the mainstream? Could it give everyday surgeons a reproducible alternative to their traditional open Haglund’s procedures? From a business perspective, Vilex may also see Artemis as a Trojan horse—a way to slip through hospital VAC committees by introducing something unique to their portfolio.

Credit to Vilex for pushing the envelope. But whether Artemis becomes a true ROI driver—or just a niche tool for the innovators—will depend on how fast the market embraces MIS Zadek as a standard of care.

Dr. Raquel Sugino's Instagram (watch here) provides a first-hand look at the Zadex osteotomy.

Treace

Nanoplasty & PerCuPlasty

Treace is moving distal—and leading the charge with Nanoplasty, an intramedullary plate system delivered through a mini-open 1.5 cm incision. It’s designed to bring Lapiplasty’s hallmark reproducibility into the distal bunion space, giving surgeons a new option that blends stability with a smaller footprint.

Hot on its heels is PerCuPlasty—the traditional, true MIS approach. Think two-screw construct with a jig for guidance. While not officially launched yet, word is it will likely be on display for preview at the AOFAS conference center.

For a company once unwavering in its Lapidus-only stance, this distal expansion is a notable pivot. With MIS bunions surging and Lapiplasty growth tapering, Treace is signaling that it’s ready to compete on more than one front.