A Retrospective Comparison of Functional Outcomes of Robotic-Assisted and Conventional Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty

6 pages•Published: October 26, 2019

Meredith Crizer, Andrew Battenberg, Mikayla McGrath, Seong Kim and Jess Lonner

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) is effective for alleviating symptoms of arthritis in a single knee compartment; however, errors in alignment and instability may predispose to failure. Robotic technology has improved precision, but its impact on functional recovery after UKA remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to compare early functional recovery, pain, and radiographic alignment in UKA performed with either robotic assistance or conventional methods.
METHODS: All consecutive patients undergoing UKA by a single physician from January 2015 to March 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. Lower Extremity Functional Scale (LEFS), KOOS Jr, and VAS (0-10) outcomes scores were collected preoperatively, 1, 6, and 12 weeks postoperatively. Radiographic alignment was assessed at the initial postoperative visit.
RESULTS: There were 161 patients, 65 conventional and 96 robotic. At baseline, there was no difference in average age, BMI, or outcomes scores between the two groups. Average preoperative pain was significantly higher in conventional patients (6.1 vs. 5.4; p=0.04). At 3 weeks post-op, conventional UKA patients still had significantly higher pain levels (3.9 vs. 3.1; p=.02). Both groups showed significant improvement in LEF (p<.0001) scores over time (p<.0001). Significant improvement in KOOS Jr. scores from pre-op (52.3) to 6 and 12-weeks postoperatively (67.6, 69.8; p<0.001). When comparing PCS of the VR/SF-12, the robotic-assisted group had significantly higher improvement compared to the conventional group at 6-weeks (40.6 vs. 35.6; p=0.02).
CONCLUSION: Robotic assisted UKA resulted in fewer radiographic outliers, and more rapid recovery with less early postoperative pain although functional differences tended to equilibrate by 3 months postoperatively.

Keyphrases: robotic assisted surgery, robotics, uka, unicompartmental knee arthroplasty

In: Patrick Meere and Ferdinando Rodriguez Y Baena (editors). CAOS 2019. The 19th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Computer Assisted Orthopaedic Surgery, vol 3, pages 84-89.

Links:	https://easychair.org/publications/paper/DrCN
	https://doi.org/10.29007/8hs6

BibTeX entry

@inproceedings{CAOS2019:Retrospective_Comparison_Functional_Outcomes,
  author    = {Meredith Crizer and Andrew Battenberg and Mikayla McGrath and Seong Kim and Jess Lonner},
  title     = {A Retrospective Comparison of Functional Outcomes of Robotic-Assisted and Conventional Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty},
  booktitle = {CAOS 2019. The 19th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Computer Assisted Orthopaedic Surgery},
  editor    = {Patrick Meere and Ferdinando Rodriguez Y Baena},
  series    = {EPiC Series in Health Sciences},
  volume    = {3},
  publisher = {EasyChair},
  bibsource = {EasyChair, https://easychair.org},
  issn      = {2398-5305},
  url       = {/publications/paper/DrCN},
  doi       = {10.29007/8hs6},
  pages     = {84-89},
  year      = {2019}}

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