Daegu and Gyeongbuk Enter the Era of 'Robot-Assisted Artificial Joint Surgery'... "Specialists' Roles Remain Crucial"

Daegu Cheoktap Hospital Performs First Robot Surgery Last Month on Patient in Their 50s with End-Stage Degenerative Knee Osteoarthritis

A robot performing knee joint replacement surgery at Daegu Cheoktap Hospital.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] A hospital specializing in spine and disc surgery in Daegu has opened the 'robotic artificial joint surgery era' in the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions. Robotic artificial joint surgery has been partially performed at university hospitals and joint specialty hospitals in Seoul and the metropolitan area, but this is the first in Daegu and Gyeongbuk.

According to the medical community in Daegu on the 15th, Daegu Cheoktap Hospital performed robotic artificial joint surgery on a patient in their 50s with end-stage degenerative knee arthritis on the 29th of last month.

Artificial joint surgery carries risks such as improper insertion along the knee axis or unstable bone resection. Additionally, if infection occurs during surgery, reoperation may be required, so both medical professionals and patients must have sufficient consultation and check the physical condition in advance.

To address these issues, robotic artificial joint surgery has recently been introduced to reduce side effects of artificial joint surgery, lower the probability of excessive bone resection, and reduce bleeding during surgery.

This robotic surgery converts the patient's knee joint condition into 3D stereoscopic image data before surgery, allowing precise determination of the artificial joint's size, insertion position, angle, and direction. Furthermore, a virtual surgery system enables simulated surgery to minimize errors during the actual operation.

The bone resection of the knee joint performed for artificial joint insertion is accurately executed by the robot, which also detects minute bone movements in real time during surgery and can control the operation if it goes beyond the surgical range. Moreover, since the process of drilling a hole in the femoral intramedullary canal to align the artificial joint with the knee axis is omitted, the amount of incision and bleeding is reduced accordingly, lowering the risk of infection.

However, there are considerable claims that manual surgery is more effective than robotic surgery. A medical community official advised that since the bone cutting part may be more precise manually, the surgical method should be applied according to the patient's condition.

Orthopedic specialist Jin-duk Kim stated, "Using the robotic surgical system allows for more precise knee artificial joint surgery, but this surgery can never replace a doctor's lack of surgical experience," adding, "The role of a surgeon with more surgical experience than the robot remains important."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.