Assessment of the accuracy in the alignment of the extremity and positioning of implants in total knee arthroplasties

Abstract

Osteoarthritis is the most frequent diagnosis of arthritis that requires for a Total Knee Replacement (TKA). This disease is characterised by a slowly degeneration of the cartilage within a joint causing pain, stiffness and swelling. TKA surgery consists of the resection of the affected joint surfaces, so they can be replaced by metal and polyethylene biomaterials (which reproduce the knee anatomy and function). Due to the variety of results between surgeries, an interest in assistive robotic technologies to standardize the procedure and more accurately place and align the implant with the limb has increased. This thesis explains the realisation of an unicentric prospective cohort study that examines the accuracy of ROSA Knee System (Robotic Surgical Assistant) a surgical robot to assist and support surgeons during TKA achieved by Hospital Clinic recently. To study this feature, certain variables have been recorded intraoperatively by ROSA and compared with the same variables but extracted from Computed Tomography (CT) or X-Ray (XR) postoperative images. All the phases to conduct, from scratch, the clinical study are explained in detail in this project. This project has been carried out under the supervision of the Knee Department of the Clinic hospital, which has allowed the use of data from their patients and their inclusion as participants in the study. This thesis will be attached to an extensive study conducted by the Knee Department regarding the ROSA robot that tries to answer the question: is the robotic assistance an improvement in TKAs surgeries?