Robotic alignment of femoral cutting mask during total knee arthroplasty

Objective  To investigate a new navigation system integrated with a robotic arm for total knee replacement (TKR) procedures. Materials and Methods  The study here reported attempts providing the surgeon with a robotic assistant handling the surgical tools with superior stability removing tremors. The system is equipped with an optical localization system, which allows the real-time monitoring of the position and orientation of the surgical tools carried by the robot end-effector and provides a feedback control to optimize the reaching of the goal position. Results  Pilot experiments, performed aligning the femoral cutting mask to the surgical position, together with the feasibility of the system, proved its accuracy and reliability. Conclusion  This paper shows the feasibility of a robotic system for TKR, integrated with a navigation system, in order to overcome limitations of both approaches.