Short-Term Benefits of Robotic Assisted Total Knee Arthroplasty Over Computer Navigated Total Knee Arthroplasty Are Not Sustained With No Difference in Postoperative Patient-Reported Outcome Measures.

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare early clinical and patient-reported outcomes between robotic assisted (RA) and computer navigation (CN) total knee arthroplasty (TKA).

Methods: One hundred and fifty patients were enrolled in this prospective, single-surgeon, cohort study, with 75 patients each receiving CN-TKA or RA-TKA in a consecutive series. There were no differences in patient age ( = .34) or body mass index ( = .09), but a higher proportion of males underwent RA-TKA ( = .03). We recorded hospital knee pain, analgesic usage, length of hospital stay, range of motion, and patient-reported outcome measures postoperatively for both patient cohorts.

Results: Hospital length of stay was shorter for the RA-TKA patients ( < .001). RA-TKA patients showed improved range of motion ( < .001) and decreased pain scores ( = .006) on day 1. Subsequent days showed no significant differences. Narcotic usage was lower for the RA-TKA group on day 2 postoperatively ( = .03) and onwards. Total morphine equivalent dose was also significantly lower for the RA-TKA than for the CN-TKA group ( < .001). There was no difference in Forgotten Joint Score ( = .24) or Oxford Knee Score ( = .51) between groups at 2 years postoperatively.

Conclusion: The use of RA-TKA demonstrated reduced postoperative analgesia usage and length of stay. There were no differences seen between CN-TKA and RA-TKA with respect to clinical outcomes at 2 years after surgery.