HAMILTON, Ohio — More robots are coming straight into hospitals. They’re helping more doctors with surgeries like knee and hip replacements. 

What You Need To Know

  • Surgeons at Kettering Health in Hamilton are using advanced robots to assist with knee and hip replacements 

  • Doctors say the robots allow them to make more precise surgical cuts and the more accurate they are, the longer wear you get from the replaced joint

  • As the technology advances, doctors expect to eventually predict any issues with replacements before they happen

Dr. Joseph Scheidler has been a surgeon for over 30 years, but this year he’s doing surgeries with a robot. 

“I think the biggest thing that I was concerned with is people think that a robot is doing the actual procedure and we are still in control of every mechanism of the procedure,” said Scheidler. 

He says before they use any tools for surgery, the robotic surgical assistant,or ROSA, goes in first to help get a more accurate surgical cut. 

“It allows us to confirm our cuts and confirm the position of the implant that we’re gonna put in for every single patient individually, rather than a generalized implant,” said Scheidler. 

He says that means if you get a new hip or knee, you’ll get longer wear it out as quickly because of the robot’s help. 

“When we initially started doing total joints, they would last five or ten years if we were really lucky. Now we’ve generated implants that can last 15-20 years, so the more specific we are, the more wear you get out of that implant,” said Scheidler. 

Right now he says they can use the robot to help with hips and knees, and they expect to eventually use it on shoulders and ankle replacement at Kettering Health hospitals. 

As time goes on, the robot technology is expected to become more advanced.

“It’s exciting because it’s gonna go to the next step which the ROSA company Zimmer Biomet, they actually have sensors in the actual implants where they can tell us how many steps you’re taking,” Scheidler. 

He says they could use that information to predict any problems with wear before they happen but for now, he says they’re using the robots to enhance their work, not replace it.