MAKO Robotic
hip and knee replacement surgery

The MAKO system consists of a robotic arm which, using accurate preoperative imaging, allows the surgeon to make sure that the preparation of the bone for a patient having a joint replacement is as accurate as possible.

Any experienced surgeon will be able to make accurate bony cuts, but evidence shows that the MAKO robot will increase the accuracy even further.

There is good evidence that increased accuracy in placing total knee replacement components and accurate soft tissue balancing leads to improved function and shortened hospital stay.

This evidence is also available in patients having total hip replacement, but to a slightly lesser extent.

Total knee replacements have a reputation of being more uncomfortable than total hip replacements but there is evidence that with the use of the MAKO robot that the amount of pain that the patient suffers is much reduced.

The use of the robot allows for less disruption to the soft tissues to occur and is probably one of the reasons that overall pain scores are less. Improved patient satisfaction has also been reported.

There is also evidence to suggest that overall blood loss in total knee replacements using the MAKO robot is reduced.

Surgeons are required to receive specific training for using the MAKO robot which I believe it is essential in making sure that our patients have complete confidence that they receive high-quality surgery.

This technology has immensely increased in popularity and although at this time there is early evidence there is a suggestion that the overall outcome of patients having had the surgery with a MAKO robot could be better than standard procedures.

If there was one negative about this new technology it would be the slightly longer time that operations will take, however in centres where this technology has been fully adopted the operating time returns to the same time taken for standard procedures.

As part of the operation a process of registration takes place , where the patient is introduced to the robot.

Both the femur and tibia are checked to make sure that the pre-operative CT scan corresponds to the patient’s anatomy.

Next the soft tissue balancing is done , which makes sure that the knee is “balanced” in flexion and extension.

A further check is done to make sure that the virtual bone cuts and virtual prosthesis matchup with the patient’s bony anatomy.

Once all the checks have been completed, the robot, operated by the surgeon, makes the bony resections.

Video

The below is a video showing Mr Busch performing a total knee replacement using the MAKO robot.