Robotic Hip & Knee Surgery

Today, with the development of technology, robots are also used in the field of medicine. One of them is the Mako robotic arm technology. Developed by Stryker, Mako is currently used in many partial knee, total knee and total hip replacement surgeries. In order to perform these surgeries successfully, it is necessary to work extremely sensitively. Even very minor errors can eventually cause the prosthetic joint to not perform its function as it should.

One of the biggest mistakes made in robotic surgeries is that the surgery is performed by the robot, not the doctor. However, the entire operation is performed by a specialist physician. The only difference is that instead of using surgical equipment, the doctor uses a robot arm with surgical equipment at the end. In fact, this method has very important advantages over conventional surgeries. The robot arm works much more precisely than the human hand. This minimizes the margin of error. The incisions required for the surgery are made with the help of the robot arm without any errors. The robot only carries out the commands of the specialist physician.

Not every orthopedic specialist can perform robotic hip and knee surgery. For this, it is necessary to go through a detailed training. It is essential for the doctor to gain experience in order to use the robot arm quite comfortably. Stryker-Mako robot is used for hip and knee surgery. This robot arm has been specially developed for prosthetic surgeries.

Performing the Surgery

Robotic hip and knee surgery must first be planned in great detail. For this, first of all, computerized tomography is taken of both feet from the hips. With the special sections taken, a three-dimensional model of the whole leg is created on the computer. The surgery is planned in the computer environment with this created three-dimensional model. The angle of the joint to be placed, the balance of the connective tissues in the region or the thickness of the bone incisions to be made during the surgery are determined in the computer environment. Today, at the planning stage of hip replacement surgeries, it can be precisely calculated how the leg length will change after the surgery.

The precise location of the bones and other tissues in the operating room are located and tracked during the procedure using tools known as arrays. A map of the bony region is drawn from the surgical site with the aid of an electronic pen-like device so that the robot can determine how big of an incision it will make and from which area. The model produced by tomography prior to the surgery is then compared with this map once it has been imported into the computer. The robot carefully calculates where and how much of an incision it will create in the bone in this way. The temporary prosthesis is inserted once the incisions are finished. The robot does one more inspection of temporary prosthesis. arrangements, if necessary

What are the Advantages of Robotic Surgery?

With robotic surgery, hip and knee replacement surgeries can be performed with perfect precision. Robotic arms are much more sensitive devices than a human hand, and therefore no trauma occurs to the surrounding tissues. Moreover, the robotic arm only works in accordance with the planning made before the operation and the mapping made during the operation. It does not work in a different location, different power or different angle from the region specified in the software.

Robotic surgery does not only make the surgery more precise and easier to perform. It also offers significant advantages after surgery. The risk of dislocation of the prosthesis placed after operations performed with traditional methods is higher. In fact, while this rate is around 4% in traditional hip replacement surgeries, it drops to less than 1% in surgeries performed with a robotic arm. In addition, the risk of leg length inequality after hip replacement surgery is similarly low.