AAOS: Robotic-Assisted Total Knee Arthroplasty Does Not Reduce Early Revision

TUESDAY, Feb. 20, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Robotic assistance does not reduce the risk for two-year, all-cause revision or aseptic loosening in cementless total knee arthroplasty (TKA) when compared with conventional arthroplasty, according to a study presented at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, held from Feb. 12 to 16 in San Francisco.

Gregory J. Kirchner, M.D., from the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, and colleagues used the American Joint Replacement Registry to identify 9,220 patients with osteoarthritis, aged 65 years and older, who underwent primary TKA from January 2017 through March 2020 with cementless femur and tibial components. Conventional TKA was compared to robotic-assisted TKA for two-year all-cause linked revision.

The researchers found that all-cause, two-year revision was similar between robotic and conventional TKA (1.16 versus 1.30 percent). Robotic assistance was significantly associated with a higher risk for infection and mechanical loosening as reasons for revision. However, when adjusting for age, sex, and the Charlson comorbidity index, there was no statistical difference for the association between robotic use and revision for infection or mechanical loosening.

"Some patients desire a robotic-assisted TKA because they've heard it is better, but we've shown that there isn't a true benefit in terms of the likelihood of needing another surgery in the early period," coauthor Lucas E. Nikkel, M.D., from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said in a statement.

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