Surgeons at Spectrum Orthopaedics in North Canton, Ohio, have been performing total joints for about four years, according to Michael Lykins, DO, and Tim Conlan, MD, who discussed the program on LiveonLakeside.
Three key quotes:
Dr. Lykins: It took us a while to get this program together. It all starts with patient selection — getting the patient's mind set to be able to think that they can do something like this. And then everybody in our team has that same positive attitude from the moment that they come in. … Everybody's on board to make it a positive experience and get them so they can get home. And why's that important? Infection. At our facility, our infection rate is 0.02 percent, which is ... incredibly low, compared to 2 percent for hospitals.
Dr. Conlan: As far as robotics, it really allows for precision. As things have moved forward in our world, it's much more precise and much more accurate. We can put total joint replacements in and get rid of people's pain, [and] we're doing it in younger and younger people.
Dr. Conlan: The big thing about robotic surgery is it's more than just a robot; it's a computer program system as well. What it does is it accurately models the knee. ... Then, we can actually try on the knee replacement or the partial knee replacement and see how it's going to work, how it's going to be balanced. We feel that that gives everybody the best chance to have the best result.
We've been using the robot now for over two years, both in our partial knee replacements and in our total knee replacements. And we're seeing people who are happier with better outcomes — but a lot of it has to also do with the fact that they're in and out of our facility quickly. Six to seven hours is the max we've ever had, and we've been doing it for four years now.
Note: Transcript was lightly edited for length, style and clarity.
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