Orthopedics Today highlights the perspective of Jonathan M. Vigdorchik, MD, hip and knee surgeon at HSS, on a study evaluating the clinical outcomes of patients who underwent unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) for osteoarthritis of the medial knee compartment, upon a midterm follow-up.

Dr. Vigdorchik wrote, “This study looked at restoring physiologic varus by undercorrecting the full extent of the deformity and also at recreating the native posterior tibial slope. Clinical outcomes were excellent in the majority of patients with a 90.5 percent survivorship at 48 months, although 7 percent were revised to total knee arthroplasty. In orthopedic surgery, the more closely we recreate the natural anatomy, the quicker recovery and better outcomes for our patients. Surgeons are able to achieve these goals using conventional techniques, but robotics and computer technology have really helped fine-tune the execution of surgical plans with the additional benefit of increasing longevity and lowering failure rates, and this is especially the case with a technically challenging operation such as a UKA.”

Dr. Vigdorchik concluded, “This study proves to me the importance of recreating the native anatomy of the knee to restore more natural kinematics, and supports the literature and my belief that using robotics or computer-assisted technology will continue to advance the field of total joint arthroplasty, increase patient satisfaction, and lead to more natural feeling joint replacements.”

Read the full article at Healio.com.