Dr. Raj Kanna is a consultant Orthopaedic and Knee surgeon, who have made a mark in the field of Orthopedics with his success stories.
Most of us are familiar with the term “total knee replacement”, which is a surgical procedure wherein the worn-out parts of the arthritic knee are replaced by metal implants to relieve pain and to correct the knee deformity. In robotic assisted knee replacement surgery, a robot is utilized to achieve the desired accuracy during various stages of the surgery and literature evidences show that robotic assistance enhances the clinical outcome to a significant extent.
The crucial part of the any joint replacement surgery is the proper positioning of the components of the new joint. A recent advancement is that during the surgery, the surgeon is assisted by a robot to position the components of the new joint accurately, thereby bringing this type of surgery the name “robotic -assisted surgery.”
Like an autopilot which assists the pilots to reach their destination easily and safely, robot helps the surgeon to achieve the desired accuracy during surgery. The surgeon attaches special reflectors to patient’s thigh and leg bones which are detected by a camera connected to the robot.
The robot subsequently constructs an electronic model of the knee based on the information fed by the surgeon. Further, the robot helps in taking the bone cuts accurately and balancing the ligaments precisely as per the surgeon’s plan. The role of the surgeon and the robot during the surgery is explained in detail in table 1.
Ensuring proper positioning of the components of the new knee is crucial because an incorrectly positioned components can lead to early wear and tear and loosening (failure) of the joint. Therefore, with the assistance of the robot, surgeon positions the new joint accurately, and this in turn helps in better knee function and ensures longer survival of the joint.
The advantages of using a robot in knee replacement surgery are summarized in table 2.
The advantages of using the velys vs other robots is summarized in table 3.
While the robot helps to take the bone cuts in the correct plane accurately without error, the surgeon handles the saw gently, activates it at the right time, perform the bone cuts and makes sure that the surrounding structures are protected well while making the cut.