Knee replacement surgery is done when the joint is worn out or diseased. Such an affected joint can cause much pain and also severely affect mobility of the joint. If conservative management cannot give adequate relief, the orthopaedic surgeon suggests a joint replacement. Traditionally, joint replacements were done without the help of robots. The artificial joint generally contains both metal and plastic components. Once the diseased joint is removed and replaced by the artificial joint, the surgeon has to ensure that the alignment of the new joint and ligaments is perfect.
The long term results of knee replacement surgery depend on the accuracy of ligament balance and the mechanical axis of the joint. Since a long time, these things were done manually using mechanical jigs. This was a fairly reliable method. But with computer navigation and robotic surgery one can have actual figures and one can fine tune ligament balance to give comfort while moving the knee after the operation.
The robot does not perform the surgery. The operation is done by the orthopaedic surgeon using the guidance of the robot.
For robotic knee replacement, it is necessary to register different points on the knee so that the computer recognises these points in space. This mechanism is something similar to GPS navigation. Once this is done the computer can do all the calculations and lay out the plan. The surgeon can fine tune the plan by adjusting the figures.
The role of the robotic arm is to assist in execution of the plan. Different robots help in different ways. But what is common to all the robots is that they ensure that the surgeon takes the cuts with precision.
Progress in the field of medicine is directed towards ensuring precision which in its turn ensures less tissue damage, less blood loss and reduction in duration of surgery.
