Owensboro (Ky.) Health Regional Hospital added Stryker's Mako robot for joint replacements, the Messenger-Inquirer reported Dec. 30.
The robot creates preoperative 3D CT scans to guide surgeons and increase accuracy during procedures, the report said. Surgeons at the hospital completed the first case with the robot in December.
"The technology is pretty insane," Mark McGinnis, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at the hospital, told the publication. "The surgeon — our hand is still on the saw making the cut, but if we veer off 1 millimeter beyond what we’ve planned on, the computer will turn the saw off instantaneously. It gives security to the surgeon and the patient that whatever game plan we have going in, it will be executed precisely the way we want it to."
The robot also is designed to allow surgeons to take on more complicated orthopedic cases and brings a streamlined approach to procedures.