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Robotic knee replacement surgery offered in Tucson

Robotic knee replacement surgery offered in Tucson
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Carondelet St. Mary's Hospital is offering a new advanced robotic machinery to perform total knee replacement surgeries.  

Dr. Michael Amini, M.D., an orthopaedic surgeon, says there are 22 centers across the country using robotic machinery to perform knee replacements.

Julia Arrellin is 55-year-old and struggled with knee pain for years. 

"My knee felt like it was going to bend backward and it would swell up," said Arrellin. "By mid-day it was already swollen and all the pain you would hear was like if you were crunching on ice."

Dr. Amini performed total knee replacement on Arrellin yesterday with the help of the new machine. 

He says this robotic knee replacement surgery is the same as the typical surgery, but more precise and accurate.

 

 

"Instead of using generic guides and instruments to help us put them in the correct position, the robot and software is helping us plan where we want it to be for that patient to really maximum that person's function to make the knee move as normal as we can make it move," Dr. Amini explained. 
 
He says the computer maps out the surface of each bone with a probe making a 3-D shape of the knee.
From the image, he can see the range of motion and how tight each part of the knee is before he begins operating.
     
Arrellin says less than 24 hours after surgery she is already walking around and bending her knee with little to no pain. 

 

 

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