Zhaotong, China --- Two cases of robot-assisted total knee arthroplasty (TKA) was successfully completed with Honghu Orthopedic Surgical Robot ("Honghu") independently developed by MicroPort NaviBot（Suzhou）Co., Ltd.,a subsidiary of Shanghai MicroPort MedBot (Group) Co., Ltd. The operations were performed by Zeyang Du, Jinhong Zhang, director and associate director of pain and spinal joint surgery of Zhaotong Second People's Hospital, and Professor Chuan Li of No. 920 Hospital. Honghu can transform the traditional surgical experience into digital surgical planning, meet the clinical urgent need of efficient use of medical resources and accurate medical treatment, and prevent the damage from intraoperative femoral canal opening and positioning. The stable and accurate Chinese-developed robotic arm enables Honghu to support the clinical needs of multiple surgeries every day.

The patients of the two cases were: 1) A 57-year-old female, who had suffered from bilateral knee joint pain repeatedly in recent 8 years, and the pain was obvious. After repeated infusion in other hospitals and treatment with traditional Chinese medicine, the situation were not getting better, and the patient gradually developed knee joint flexion deformity, unable to bend, unable to walk after sitting, and had to walk with crutch; 2) A 78-year-old female repeatedly suffered from bilateral knee joint pain in recent 10 years. Her situation was aggravated after carrying weight and physical labor. In severe cases, she felt restless. Repeated infusion outside the hospital and acupuncture physiotherapy did not improve her situation. She used to take long-term oral painkillers to relieve pain. Later, she gradually developed knee joint flexion deformity, her legs could not be straightened, and she could not walk after sitting.

The two patients suffered from severe knee osteoarthritis and severe varus deformity. Before the total knee arthroplasty, Director Zeyang Du, Director Jinhong Zhang and their team used Honghu to analyze the surgical plan of the collected CT image data of patients. Through segmentation, reconstruction and prosthesis placement design of the CT images of patients' diseased bones, a personalized surgical plan was quickly completed for the patients. The human-computer interactive surgical platform of Honghu guided the robotic arm registration and bone registration nimbly during the surgery, the robotic arms accurately moved to the preplanned position, assisted Director Zeyang Du and Director Jinhong Zhang in the osteotomy of femur and tibia. Compatible with the MicroPort® Orthopedics medial-pivot knee system, the whole operation was completed smoothly and efficiently.

Postoperative measurement shows that the actual osteotomy is completely consistent with the planned value. The patient recovered fast after the operation, and the full-length radiograph of the lower limb showed that the force line had been accurately recovered, which proved the precise characteristics of Honghu.

Zeyang Du, director of the Department of Pain and Spine Joint Surgery, and Jinhong Zhang,  associate director, said: "TKA is a new technology for treating knee joint diseases. It can effectively eradicate the late knee joint pain, improve the knee joint mobility and the quality of life of patients. The operating interface of surgery robot is very user-friendly. It respects the doctors' traditional surgical habits and has a short learning curve. Compared with the traditional surgery, the 3D preoperative planning function of robot is powerful, allowing doctors to collect more patient information during surgery and implant the prostheses in a more reasonable position. Meanwhile, it is unnecessary to open the femoral canal in a robot-assisted surgery, and the patient suffered less bleeding and less trauma. The osteotomic operation was accurate, and the patient restored to a satisfactory lower limb force line. The robot successfully completed a high-difficulty surgery at its first show. It has greatly enhanced my confidence in the Chinese-developed Honghu Orthopedic Surgical Robot. I hope more doctors will have the opportunity to contact and use the surgery robots for the benefit of patients.”