Total-joint specialists at Northside Hospital Forsyth are combining the strengths to help patients, especially those with post-sports related injuries and osteoarthritis, return to a better quality of life much faster. They recently performed Georgia’s first robotic-assisted total knee replacement surgery.
“This is a great example of how technological advances, coupled with a surgeon’s expertise, afforded the completion of a total knee replacement surgery using a robotic arm,” said Dr. Kenneth Kress, the orthopaedic surgeon who performed the first robotic total knee replacement at Northside Hospital Forsyth on Oct. 17.
Mako Robotic-Arm Assisted Surgery from Stryker allows surgeons to perform more accurate joint replacements for patients with chronic knee pain as a result of osteoarthritis. The technology has been used to perform unicompartmental knee replacements for years and is now being used to perform total-hip replacements and total-knee replacements.
Through 3D models, motion capture and real-time virtual views of the patient’s anatomy, surgeons are able to provide more accurate implant size and placement. Patients may benefit from better stability and more natural movement of the joint, potentially increasing the lifespan of the implant and reducing the risk for revision surgery.
According to Dr. Kress, the use of this robotic technology offers reduced post-procedural pain and less recovery time, increasing patients’ mobility faster than ever before and allowing them to go home within a few hours after surgery.
“The Mako platform is supported by significant primary clinical research, including peer review, clinical studies and more,” said Dr. Kress. “Two-years of work has now become a reality and I am extremely proud to have performed this surgery.”
The surgical team’s experience, combined with more advanced operating room and anesthesia methods, allow them to perform total-joint replacements more efficiently and accurately with smaller incisions, less muscle damage, less blood loss and less post-operative pain. Five years ago the average joint patient in the U.S. was hospitalized 3-4 days after surgery. Today, 65 percent of patients who undergo joint replacement at Northside Hospital Forsyth go home within four hours.
