Robot-Assisted Surgery Found More Accurate

Robot-assisted knee surgery is significantly more accurate than conventional surgery, according to a new study.

A team of surgeons from Imperial College London (London, UK) examined whether Acrobot, a robotic assistant that helps surgeons to line replacement knee parts with the existing bones, could improve surgical outcomes for patients undergoing partial knee replacement. The surgeons looked at 27 patients undergoing unicompartmental knee replacement. The patients were separated into two groups as part of a randomized controlled trial, with 14 having conventional surgery, and the remaining 13 having robot-assisted surgery.

Although the operations took a few minutes longer using the robotic assistant, the replacement knee parts were more accurately lined up than in conventional surgery. All of the robotically assisted operations lined up the bones to within 2o of the planned position, but only 40% of the conventionally performed cases achieved this level of accuracy. The team found there were no additional side effects from using robot-assisted surgery, and recovery from surgery was quicker in most cases.

"These robots are designed to hold the surgeon's hand in the operating theater, not take over the operation. This study shows they can be an enormous help, preventing surgeons from making mistakes,” said Professor Justin Cobb, who led the research team. "More importantly, by showing how the increased accuracy makes a difference to how well a knee works after surgery, we will be able to develop a new generation of less-invasive procedures without the risks of error, providing faster recovery and better functional outcomes for patients.”

The Acrobot is designed to allow a surgeon to move a bone cutter using a concept called active constraint, whereby a motorized robot system can either provide assistance to the surgeon or resist his movements depending on his location and the desired direction of movement.






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