By Staff 6-1,2015
Cheyenne Regional Medical Center (CRMC) is the first and only hospital in Wyoming to offer partial knee replacement and total hip replacement procedures using MAKOplasty®, a surgeon-controlled robotic arm system that enables accurate alignment and placement of implants.
“Accuracy is key in planning and performing both partial knee and total hip procedures,” said Dr. Jean Basta, an orthopedic surgeon with Cheyenne Orthopaedics and the first surgeon in Wyoming to use the MAKOplasty system, to perform a partial knee replacement.
“For a good outcome, you need to align and position the implants precisely,” Dr. Basta said. “This new robotic arm system enables surgeons to personalize partial knee and total hip procedures to achieve optimal results at a level of accuracy and reproducibility that is not always possible with conventional instrumentation.”
MAKOplasty allows the surgeon to complete a patient-specific, pre-surgical plan that details the technique for bone preparation and customized implant positioning using a CT scan of the patient’s knee. For the surgery, the MAKOplasty system creates a three-dimensional, virtual view of the patient’s bone surface and joint and correlates that image to the pre-programmed surgical plan. As the surgeon uses the robotic arm, its feedback limits the bone preparation to the diseased areas and provides for real-time adjustments and more optimal implant positioning and placement.
The MAKOplasty partial knee replacement procedure is a minimally invasive option for adults living with early to mid-stage osteoarthritis that has not yet progressed to all three compartments of the knee, said Dr. John Winter, an orthopedic surgeon at Wyoming Orthopedics & Sports Medicine who has recently used the new system to perform a partial knee replacement and total hip replacement at CRMC.
Because it’s less invasive, MAKOplasty partial knee replacement can offer several benefits over total knee surgery, said Dr. J. Winter: “This includes reduced pain, minimal hospitalization, more rapid recovery, less implant wear and loosening, a smaller scar and a more natural knee feeling.”
The process for a total hip replacement using MAKOplasty is similar to that used for the partial knee procedure. Using the system’s 3-D model of the hip, the surgeon can plan the optimal size and position of the hip implant components.
“The position of these components is critical for proper biomechanical reconstruction of the hip,” said Dr. Bret Winter, an orthopedic surgeon at Wyoming Orthopedics & Sports Medicine who has used the new system to perform a partial knee and total hip replacement. After preparing the thighbone, the surgeon uses the robotic arm to shape the hip socket and to then place the implants at the correct depth and orientation.
MAKOplasty hip replacement surgery can be used to treat non-inflammatory or inflammatory degenerative joint disease.
“Accurate alignment and positioning of implants using traditional techniques can be challenging,” Dr. B. Winter said. “MAKOplasty allows the surgeon to offer more precise implant placements and to customize those placements to the individual.”
