Joint Preservation Innovations (JPI), a developer of next-gen joint preservation technologies, was granted U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for its Articulator arthroscopic bur.

The Naperville, Illinois-based company markets the Articulator Bur as the first and only FDA-cleared articulating rotary-cutting instrument that’s designed to be used in arthroscopic procedures. JPI calls it a “transformational leap in arthroscopic bone resection” with dexterity that hasn’t been seen before in a powered surgical instrument.

Its articulating mechanism has 601% more cutting surface area compared to traditional straight burs. This lets surgeons access and contour bone in tight, curved, or obstructed spaces that were previously difficult, according to JPI.

Hardik Goel, the company’s co-founder and CEO, said that surgeons constantly tell them current straight burs limit what they can acccomplish inside constrained joints. “The Articulator Bur offers a category-defining solution that improves precision, enhances access, and aligns directly with the broader industry shift toward joint preservation, smaller incisions, and enabling technology for minimally invasive surgery,” Goel said in a press release.

JPI said the Articulator Bur’s bone-resection capabilities will be especially helpful for hip, shoulder, ankle, and elbow preservation procedures. It reduces the need for portal changes, instrument exchanges, and awkward bur angulation as well.

The instrument may also lower the learning curve for arthroscopic surgeons undergoing femoroplasty and rim trimming the hip, subscapularis footprint preparation and distal clavicle osteophyte excision in the shoulder, and curved bone resections in tight anatomic corridors of other joints, the company said.

“The Articulator Bur gives surgeons controllable access to bone in ways that simply were not possible with conventional straight burs,” said JPI co-founder and CEO Sanjeev Bhatia, MD. “This is a foundational enabling technology that enhances what joint-preserving arthroscopy can achieve today, and it lays the groundwork for the next generation of minimally invasive surgery.”