Robotic-assisted total knee replacements have a higher complication risk than conventional methods, according to a new study from the Sunnybrook Research Institute.
Patients who underwent conventional total knee arthroplasty procedures had a 1% rate of major surgical complications within one year, compared to a 2% complication rate for patients with a robotic-assisted TKA, according to an April 2 news release from Sunnybrook Research Institute.
The study compared outcomes from nearly 75,000 knee replacement surgeries performed in Canada across 62 hospitals and 345 surgeons between April 2019 and October 2023. Nearly 73,000 surgeries in the study were of the conventional method, and just over 1,600 were robotic-assisted.
Surgeries that utilized robotics typically require additional pin sites, larger or extra incisions, longer anesthesia time and higher costs, according to Daniel Pincus, MD, PhD, primary author of the study.
Robotic adoption of arthroplasty surgical cases nearly tripled from 1.7% of cases in 2019 to 5.8% in 2023, the release said.
The study was recently published in The Journal of Arthroplasty.
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