Vail-Summit Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery is partnering with Zimmer Biomet on technology that surgeons hope will reduce chronic pain after knee-replacement surgery, Summit Daily reports.
Zimmer Biomet's robotic surgical assistant, ROSA, enables surgeons to make bony cuts purer, provides specific data on balancing ligament tension, allows for scientific restoration of limb alignment and improves the opportunity for patella tracking and knee range of motion.
Dr. Nathan Cafferky, a total joint and reconstruction surgeon at the orthopedic clinic, said he's excited about ROSA, which combines previous technologies in one platform "while operating as a surgical assistant" and "not a robot that is doing the surgery."
Five insights into how ROSA works:
1. Unlike other robotic systems using MRI or CT scans for preoperative imaging study, ROSA uses preoperative X-rays.
2. During surgery, sensors are placed on the shin and thigh bone so the robot will be able to navigate the knee based off the sensors.
3. The robot verifies that the preoperative X-ray model matches the anatomy that it is seeing during surgery.
4. The robot has two modes: collaborative, where the surgeon is positioning the robotic arm close to the body, and automatic, where the robotic arm is positioning the cutting guides to within 5 cm to 6cm of the body
5. The safety mechanisms will not allow the robotic arm to touch the body without the surgeon guiding it to the final position.