At WVU Medicine Reynolds Memorial Hospital, joint replacement is evolving right now. Surgeons say the new technology will benefit both patients and medical professionals.
On Monday, the hospital celebrated performing its 100th total knee replacement surgery using the ROSA Knee System, a robotically assisted surgical system. It enables surgeons to use computer and software technology during operations to be less invasive and to allow for greater precision.
For the orthopedic surgery group at Reynolds Memorial led by Dr. Michael Scheel and Dr. Michael Myers, the new surgical method has improved the procedure. In his professional life, Scheel claimed to have replaced about a thousand knees. What the ROSA system allows him to do is map out the cuts he wants to make. Myers likened it to a “measure twice, cut once” scenario.
The system, which has only been in place at Reynolds for a little more than a year, according to Scheel, enables surgeons to assess the potential effects of cuts on the stability of the implants, the tracking, and the range of motion.
“And we can do all of that before we even make the cuts,” Scheel said. “Then, the really cool thing that I discovered—that I really didn’t know about until this technology became available here—is that we can cooperatively validate what we thought we did. a a a a…………………………..”
By being less invasive, the surgeons said, patients are home convalescing much earlier than before, many the day after surgery. Less post-operative pain means less need for painkillers. Additionally, they are observing that patients’ function is recovering more quickly.
“Our goal is to diminish outliers,” Myers said. “As we reduce outliers, that should drive our patient satisfaction. As we improve patient satisfaction, we should then get better results. So, the main justification for using it is, hopefully, better outcomes.”
Everyone at WVU Medicine is pleased that patients can now benefit from cutting-edge technology much more conveniently than in the past. The health system’s goal is to bring high quality medical care to the Ohio Valley, and machines like ROSA can assist with that.
“We are so proud of our team on their completion of the 100th ROSA assisted knee replacement,” says COO of Reynolds Memorial Hospital for WVU Medicine, Tony Martinelli. “We can give Ohio Valley residents the best care possible by combining these cutting-edge robotics with the outstanding staff at WVU Medicine Reynolds.”
