Robotic Knee Replacement Surgery

Nancy Zant had been dealing with knee arthritis for years. “And as they say, when you're ready for knee surgery, you'll know it. And I knew it when I could no longer hike. I couldn't go up and down stairs. And so people say, well, how many stairs do you have at your house? Well, none, but there are stairs everywhere.”

After a successful total knee replacement surgery at Lee Memorial Hospital, she decided to do a week of impatient rehab at The Gulf Coast Medical Center Skilled Nursing Unit. “I knew the whole rehab process and I knew how much it would benefit me in my recovery.” In her week-long stay, she received more than 14 hours of physical therapy. “The care that I received was just so awesome,” said Zant.

After being discharged, she worked with outpatient therapists twice a week. After 6 weeks, she was fully functional. “Meaning my knee extension, my rotation was exactly where it needed to be. And the staff over there was outstanding as well.”

Now she’s feeling great! And was finally able to make it back on the golf course. “With so little pain, it was just amazing to me,” said Zant. “And I think it was because of the rehab and being so active, you know, continuously throughout the day and throughout my stay.” You can learn more by searching for orthopedics on leehealth.org.

Knee arthritis is increasingly common as we age. “It’s pain, it’s stiffness, It’s inflammation. It’s all that, but it could be a bit more debilitating for people because they notice it more, that bothers them more when they’re trying to sleep, there’s not really anything you can do once it gets bad after kind of rest it,” said orthopedic surgeon Dr. John Thompson.

The way to fix it is through surgery, with either a partial or total knee replacement. “You are not really taking big sections of bone off; you are more so taking what little cartilage is left and resurfacing the joint. Instead, now you have metal and plastic rubbing on each other, instead of cartilage rubbing on each other,” said Dr. Thompson.

Those knee surgeries are now better than ever thanks to the ROSA Robotic Surgical Assistant. “A lot of the surgery still is me, the assistants, my hands, and that sort of thing operating the tools, and this is more of an extra assistant, that kind of helps guide where everything needs to be,” said Dr. Thompson.

The biggest advantage with the ROSA machine is the accuracy and precision. Surgeons can make changes of up to half a millimeter in real time. “Compared to traditional in my experience, since we have been doing this for a couple years, is the people just say it feels more normal. Even though it’s an artificial knee, they say it feels more natural compared to previously and I think your recovery is sped up quite a bit,” said Dr. Thompson.

Allowing patients to get back to doing what they love. “You can do anything after a hip or knee replacement. There are people that ski and run and play tennis, there is really no limitation afterwards as far as what you can do,” said Dr. Thompson.