Total Knee Replacement (TKR) surgeries have come a long way since its initiation to 2020. A lot of improvements in surgical materials, equipments and techniques have greatly increased the effectiveness of this procedure. To overcome the challenges of accurate implant positioning and alignment, there was a continuous need of innovation. Computer assisted surgeries started a new phase of this innovation. And if we are to talk about recent trends and breakthrough technologies, robotics should lead the way for present as well as future.
With the CUVIS Joint, World’s First Autonomous Robot for Knee Replacement surgeries, SAKRA World Hospital is again set to give the best surgical outcomes for patients in India.
“The SAKRA World Hospital is committed to advanced medical care through innovative and efficient services, creating an environment of continued quality improvement and expertise of the best physicians. We utilise the most recent medical technologies, advanced clinical methods and develop protocols to improve our outcomes ensuring the good health of the community around us.”
Arthritis is the swelling and tenderness of one or more of your joints. Some of the main symptoms of arthritis are joint pain and stiffness, which typically worsen with age. The most common types of arthritis are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, affecting millions of people worldwide. It is a medical condition in which the protective cartilage that cushions the ends of your bones wears down over time. Although osteoarthritis can damage any joint, the disorder most commonly affects joints in your hands, knees, hips and spine.
In rheumatoid arthritis , the body's immune system attacks its own tissue, including joints. Over long periods of time, the inflammation associated with rheumatoid arthritis can cause bone erosion and joint deformity.
Symptoms of Arthritis (associated with joints):
If simple treatment options like medications and use of walking supports no longer relieve knee arthritis symptoms, one may need to go for an option of surgery.
Total knee surgery (TKR) or Knee Arthroplasty is the surgical procedure to replace the damaged part of the knee with metal and polyethylene artificial implants. During a total knee replacement, the end of the femur bone is removed and replaced with a metal implant. The end of the lower leg bone (tibia) is also removed and replaced with metal implant and in between Femur and tibia there is a polyethylene surface.
These artificial components mimic the natural knee movement and help a patient to get back the range of motion and reduce knee pain. The Knee replacement surgery is one of the most common bone and joint surgeries.
In Robotic Total Knee Replacement procedure, a robot is used to take required surgical bone cuts as against conventional manual procedure. Considering the superiority of this technologically advanced procedure, one can surely expect the best post-surgical outcomes with robot i.e. CUVIS Joint as against manual way of surgeries.
Standard robotic knee replacement with CUVIS Joint typically comprises of:
When compared to conventional manual surgical procedure, robotic knee replacement has a lot of benefits on offer like:
1. Is knee replacement procedure safe? Can it be avoided?
Yes, the knee replacement procedure is completely safe and can be considered as one of the most common surgeries now-a-days.
It is recommended in severe cases of arthritis to reduce pain and have better quality life or an active lifestyle. The doctor recommends it only when all other therapy options like medications, walking support, etc. are of no use and can’t help with the symptoms.
2. Is robotic surgery really better than conventional manual knee replacement surgery?
When compared to conventional manual knee replacement surgeries, robotic knee replacement has got a lot of advantages in terms of better implant positioning, precise surgical bone cuts, least human intervention, faster recovery and least hospital stay.
Considering its minimally invasive nature, it causes lesser tissue trauma and thus less blood loss and faster recovery.
What is the cost of robotic knee replacement surgery?
4. Is there any risk associated with robotic knee replacement surgery?
Advanced robot like CUVIS Joint have best in class safety features and do not cause any additional risk to patients undergoing knee replacement surgeries.
With advanced features like Bone Movement Monitoring and Haptic Feedback mechanism, it monitors everything in real time. Thus, it delivers best surgical outcome with maximum safety to the patients.
5. Are all the robots for knee replacement same?
Even though robotic technology for knee replacement is the most advanced therapy option in today’s scenario, there are different types of robots available in market.
Amongst all, CUVIS Joint is the only robot which is autonomous in complete sense. Other options of robot just act as a guiding system for surgeon and thus posses the risk of intra-operative human errors. These systems are called as passive or semi-active, whereas CUVIS Joint is of active nature.
For how long do I need to stay in hospital for the robotic TKR surgery?
7. Will I be able to walk and do regular day-to-day activities independently post knee replacement surgery?
Yes, once initial recovery is done, one can start walking a bit in a week’s time itself. Post 2-3 months of recovery, you’ll be able to do the maximum of day-to-day activities. And a myth buster, apart from an initial period of recovery, one does not need any walking support post knee replacement surgery.
8. Is it safe to do the surgery in COVID-19 situation?
To address the situation of COVID-19, hospitals are taking enough care for separating COVID-19 ward and patients from others and reduce the risk of infection.
Also with CUVIS Joint, there’s least human intervention inside Operation Theatre (OT) and also the recovery time (hospital stay) is less. With all these things combined, you can be rest assured and get yourself operated to relieve from the knee pain and have an active lifestyle.
Standard robotic knee replacement with CUVIS Joint typically comprises of:
CUVIS Joint robot for knee replacement is based on 4 core values of simplicity, accuracy, flexibility and safety.
Simplicity:
Accuracy:
Flexibility:
Safety:
Depending upon the execution and working methodology during surgery, there are different types of robots available for knee replacement:
Passive Robot: These are mostly imageless or x-Ray based systems. They do the job of knee navigation and do not assist surgeon to make cuts, as the robotic arm is not capable of taking bone cuts.
Semi-Active Robot:CT image based systems with a hepatic arm and surgeon has to guide the arm to the bone and take bone cuts. Again it has certain limitations, some of the important intra-operative procedures like box cut, lug holes, re-cuts and some other manipulations are difficult to handle.
Active Robot: CT image based system (CUVIS Joint) and does accurate pre-plan and one cannot err on important surgical landmarks. Does help surgeons to take all the cuts in their preferred sequence and also it’s all automatic- surgeon uses a remote control to maneuver the robotic arm and the cutting tool makes all cuts with utmost precision and safety.
