Using a robot to improve surgery sounds like a no-brainer. More accurate is better, right? Well, not necessarily. In this study, which was done in China, they compared two groups of patients undergoing MPFL reconstruction for recurrent instability using robot-assisted and freehand surgery.
At final follow-up, the study showed that the robotic-assisted group had the femoral tunnel in closer to a specific anatomic landmark, but both groups had similar rates for achievement of the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for patient-reported outcomes (PROs).
The robotic-assisted surgery took longer and required expensive technology. Furthermore, anatomic variations from patient to patient mean that not all ligaments should be placed in exactly the same spot.
Read more about this study in Orthopedicstoday: Robotic-assisted MPFL reconstruction may yield improved outcomes vs. freehand technique
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