Orthopedics Today reports on a study that shows although the use of computer navigation and robotic assistance yielded longer operative times in total joint arthroplasty, published results showed these methods had no association with increased risk of periprosthetic joint infection.

“All of these things are useful to know subsequently for cost analyses and patient benefits, but we can at least say with some confidence that computer navigation and robotic assistance do not put the patient at risk of having a higher risk for surgical site infections,” Alberto V. Carli, MD, hip and knee surgeon at HSS. 

Dr. Carli and colleagues retrospectively reviewed data for patients who underwent either primary total hip (n = 12,726) or knee (n = 11,727) arthroplasty between 2018 and 2021 at HSS. Patients were grouped based on whether they had conventional, computer-navigated, or robotic-assisted surgery.

Results showed computer-navigated and robotic-assisted THAs had longer operative times by 3 and 11 minutes, respectively, compared with conventional THA. Researchers found this difference to be significant. Although robotic-assisted TKA had a significantly longer operative time by 14 minutes compared with conventional TKA, researchers found surgical times were similar between the computer navigation and conventional TKA groups.

Read the full article at healio.com.