St John of God Subiaco Hospital first in Western Australia to use robot for hip surgery

The first robotically assisted hip replacement operation in Western Australia was undertaken today at St John of God Subiaco Hospital, making it the second facility in Australia to undertake the surgery.

19 Jul 2016

Two patients underwent the robotic procedure that is expected to provide more precise implantation of components when compared to current techniques, which can have up to 20 degrees of positional variation.

St John of God Subiaco Hospital Chief Executive Officer, Dr Lachlan Henderson, said while we have extremely high success rates with traditional hip replacements surgery, robotic technology provides an extra layer of precision for surgeons.

Orthopaedic surgeons at the hospital were the first in Australia to use an interactive orthopaedic robot for partial knee replacement (PKR) surgery in April 2015, when St John of God Subiaco Hospital first installed the robot.

Since then 90 robotically assisted PKR surgeries have been undertaken at the hospital.

Dr Henderson said robotic-assisted surgical technique allows highly accurate pre-operative planning, merging the accuracy of computer navigation and the ability to customise position based on the three dimensional anatomy of each individual patient.

“The robot gives surgeons the ability to adjust their plan intra-operatively, in real-time, to further optimise the operation," he said.

“The pre-surgical plan is especially useful for surgeons, as they can assess bone preparation areas and customise implant positioning using a CT scan of the patient’s hip joint."

The surgeons underwent extensive training to learn how to best utilise the technology. They plan to use the robotic technology for full knee replacements in the near future.

Dr Henderson said the hospital has invested in operating room robots for a range of speciality areas, including orthopaedics, gynaecology, surgical oncology and urology.

“The robot technology is part of our focus to assist our doctors and patients by providing first-class facilities and the latest technologies,” he said.

In addition the hospital is undertaking clinical research on robotic surgery to measure patient outcomes and to ensure care is evidence-based and informed by research.