University Hospitals of Derby and Burton (UHDB) has deployed a surgical robot to support certain joint replacement procedures, making it one of the first hospitals in the UK to do so.
One motivation for the introduction of the technology was the trust’s participation in a national collaborative study (Robotic Arthroplasty: a Clinical and cost Effectiveness Randomised controlled trial, or RACER) commissioned by the National Institute for Health Care Research (NIHR), which aims to assess the success of and outcomes resulting from robot-assisted knee replacements.
The robot has been used in around 25 cases so far by surgeons at Royal Derby Hospital (RDH).
According to a hospital statement, its trauma and orthopaedics departments have used robotics across a range of operations for the past 15 years.
The general and urological surgeons at UHDB have also completed surgeries using the Da Vinci robot.
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Steve Milner, clinical director of trauma and orthopaedics at UHDB commented that new technology is a real coup for the trust and will serve to vastly improve surgeries carried out at the site.
He added that: “The Mako robot has the potential to improve the accuracy of joint replacement surgery, particularly in complex cases.”
The Mako technology range was developed by robotics manufacturer Stryker specifically for robotic-arm assisted surgeries on knees and hips.
