Geisinger
Musculoskeletal
Institute in Scranton,
Pa. "The purpose of
the robot isn't to per-
form easy cases. It's
to make difficult
cases easier."
Use of robotics is trending upward as more surgeons buy into the
technology, new platforms come to market and savvy patients seek
out facilities that have invested in it. You could argue that robotic
assistance is the inevitable future of knee replacement surgery thanks
to the many clinical benefits it provides.
Orthopedic surgeon Kim Schaap, MD, is a convert. She performed
her first robotic knee replacement at the St. Cloud (Minn.) Surgical
Center in October 2016 and quickly realized how much she liked
working with the technology. "It's helpful during every single case,"
says Dr. Schaap. "There are joints in which you know it's going to be a
struggle to insert the implant based on the patient's anatomy. The
robot eliminates those outliers."
The experts we spoke to say robotic assistance brings a higher
degree of precision to preparing for surgery, placing implants and bal-
ancing ligaments.
• Pre-op planning. Dr. Suk calls robotics a complete joint replace-
ment platform. Combining advanced CT imaging with robotics lets
surgeons develop a detailed surgical plan based on a patient's specific
knee anatomy — a place that the robot will help execute it in the OR.
"Pre-op planning takes away some of the intraoperative high-stakes
decision-making," says Dr. Suk. "I find myself in a much better situa-
tion in terms of having really thought about the case to a level beyond
1 2 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9
"Does robotics improve out-
comes, or does it simply make
post-op X-rays look better?"
— Yale Fillingham, MD
