Morrisville, Vt.-based Copley Hospital introduced a robot designed to improve the accuracy and precision of total knee replacements, according to local outlet WCAX News.
Three quick notes:
1. The introduction of the robot, which is part of the Navio Surgical System, had been planned for about two years.
2. Orthopedic surgeons Brian Aros, MD, and Nicholas Antell, MD, are training with the robot. They could begin using it on patients as early as this fall.
3. The robot enables surgeons to collect real-time data and view a 3D rendering of a patient's anatomy. It's used to help size and position knee implants. Sensors on the robot sync with sensors on the thigh, femur and tibia bones to detect the exact location of a patient's knee.
"As surgeons and medical providers, you need to be open to advances in technology," Dr. Antell told WCAX News. "Sometimes change is hard, but there's certainly benefits to incorporating advanced technologies into your practice. I think there's a lot of things in orthopedics that a robot's not going to be able to do for us over time. You definitely need the surgeon in the room doing the procedure, but this is just added technology that helps us improve our accuracy and our precision."