The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Robotics now for error-free surgery

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Sunday, Apr 27, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Robotics now for error-free surgery

Staff Reporter

National registry of joint replacement procedures launched

— PHOTO: S. THANTHONI

NEW TECHNOLOGY: Implant designs on display at the national congress in Chennai on Saturday.

CHENNAI: Robots that allow orthopaedic surgeons to perform surgery with zero error will be the future of hip and knee replacement procedures, said speakers at the second national congress of the Indian Society of Hip and Knee Surgeons (ISHKS) that got under way here on Saturday.

Robotic surgery, as the method is commonly referred to by doctors, provides better results as opposed to those achieved by conventional methods, they added.

Inaugurating the congress, N. Sugano of Japan, who widely uses the technology, made a presentation of the procedure for the benefit of nearly 500 orthopaedic surgeons participating in the two-day meeting.

Dr. Sugano said that he first used it for total hip replacement surgery eight years ago to eliminate human error. Based on projected three-dimensional images, a surgeon could plan the surgery and be assured of getting the predicted good results, he said. Robotic surgery “reduced intra-operative and post-operative fractures and provided good alignment to the bone,” he said.

Dr. Sugano told mediapersons at a briefing: “We started using this technique for total knee replacement. The limb alignment result is good. It helps a surgeon in pre-operative planning.”

P.V. Jayasankar, Head of Orthopaedics and Joint Replacement Surgery Department at Sundaram Medical Foundation, who is also in the organising committee of the congress, said the method would reduce hospital stay as the person would be able to walk earlier. The current lifespan of a total knee replacement surgery is 15 years and for total hip replacement, 30 years, he said.

At the seminar, the Indian Society of Hip and Knee Surgeons’ president, J.A. Pachore, launched the national registry of Indian joint replacement procedures.

The society, with 300 member surgeons, would have access to the registry to file the details of the patient, including the diagnosis and the kind of implant used. The registry would help to learn about re-surgery rates and improve research, Dr. Pachore said.

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