THE LEARNING CURVE ASSOCIATED WITH ROBOTIC-ASSISTED TOTAL HIP ARTHROPLASTY

Abstract

BackgroundSeveral recent reports have documented high frequency of malpositioned acetabular components, even amongst high volume arthroplasty surgeons. Robotic assisted total hip arthroplasty (THA) has the potential to improve component positioning; however, to our knowledge there are no reports examining the learning curve during the adoption of robotic assisted THA.PurposeThe purpose of this study was to examine the learning curve of robotic assisted THA as measured by component position, operative time, intra-operative technical problems, and complications.MethodsThe first 105 robotic-assisted THAs performed by a single surgeon with a posterior approach from June 2011 to August 2013 patients were divided into three groups based on the order of surgery. Group A was cases 1–35, group B 36–70 and group C 71–105. Component position, operative time, intra-operative technical problems, and intra-operative complications were recorded.ResultsThere was no significant difference between groups A, B, and C for BM...