Robotic precision enhances accuracy and recovery in complex hip implant revision procedures
Seoul National University Hospital has performed South Korea's first robot-assisted revision surgery for artificial hip joints, the hospital announced Wednesday. Using the MAKO robotic surgery system, the hospital's orthopedic team carried out the country's first robotic hip revision procedure in March and has since successfully completed four such operations.
Total hip replacement surgery — a treatment for conditions including femoral head osteonecrosis, degenerative hip arthritis and hip fractures — replaces damaged joints with artificial implants to reduce pain and restore function. While most patients return to daily life after the procedure, some require revision surgery due to implant wear, loosening, repeated dislocations or osteolysis. Osteolysis is a condition in which worn particles from the implant trigger immune and biological reactions that cause surrounding bone to deteriorate.
A frontal view of the pelvic bone
Revision surgery on the acetabular side — the cup-shaped socket that receives the femoral head — is considered particularly demanding. Bone loss and distorted anatomy often mean the normal structural landmarks are no longer intact, making precise surgical planning and stable implant fixation critical. The MAKO robotic system has been widely used for primary hip and knee replacement procedures, but had not previously been applied to revision cases.
The hospital's orthopedic team said it used the MAKO system to build CT-based, patient-specific three-dimensional surgical plans and to insert the acetabular cup at the precise position and angle required. All four operations were completed successfully, and patients have shown stable recoveries, with improved joint stability and reduced dislocation risk, the team said.
Seoul National University Hospital orthopedic surgeons Yoo Jeong-jun (left) and Kim Hong-seok
Kim Hong-seok, a professor in the orthopedic surgery department at Seoul National University Hospital, said hip revision surgery is one of the most technically demanding procedures in the field because surgeons must simultaneously account for anatomy altered by prior operations and existing bone defects. "Through the MAKO robotic system, we were able to translate the preoperative plan precisely into the actual surgery and accurately reconstruct the acetabular cup position and joint center," he said.
Yoo Jeong-jun, also a professor in the department, said the cases confirmed that robotic surgical technology is effective even in high-difficulty revision procedures. "We will continue working to provide patients with more accurate and safer treatment," he said.
kty@heraldcorp.com
