The first knee replacement surgery performed by a robot in Canada has been done right here in Hamilton at St. Joseph’s hospital.
Peter Sporta had partial knee replacement surgery six weeks ago. He is still recovering, but already looking forward to getting back on the tennis courts. Doctors say Sporta had a condition where part of his knee was damaged but the rest of his knee was in good shape.
Dr. Anthony Adili is the chief orthopaedic surgeon at St. Joseph’s healthcare Hamilton. Without the robot, Sporta would likely have had his entire knee replaced.
“With this technology we’re able to say we can do a partial replacement and leave the good parts of the knee alone.”
Dr. Adili says partial knee replacement surgery is difficult to do but the robotic technology removes the margin of error by knowing precisely the right amount of bone to cut.
One in five patients report being unhappy with their knee replacement surgery, the idea with the robot is for that number to improve.
“We’re leaving the patients normal anatomy and we’re not really interacting or changing the normal bio mechanics of the knee so it should feel like a more normal knee.”
Dr. Adili says the second most chronic condition in Canada is arthritis and with an aging population that number will continue to rise.
The robotic technology is expensive but, Dr. Adili says it’s allowing them to push boundaries in innovation and rethink how they will approach patients with arthritic joints and conditions in the future.