Robotic joint replacement surgeries show 'no benefit' over conventional procedures

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By Olivia Bowthorpe

Robotic-assisted hip and knee replacement surgery does not reduce the overall risk of revision procedures or surgical complications, according to two large UK studies.

The team analysed more than 1.3 million joint replacements recorded in the National Joint Registry between 2018 and 2024.

Despite robotic technology being designed to help surgeons position joint implants more accurately, researchers found this did not translate into a lower overall early risk of repeat surgery after either hip or knee replacement.

Health officials said last year that robot-assisted surgeries will increase from 70,000 in England in 2023/24 to around 500,000 over the next 10 years.

Mr Hasan Mohammad, academic clinical lecturer at Queen Mary University of London and lead author, said the trials “found no differences in early revision risk, intraoperative complications or implant/patient survival”.

'Higher costs'

"These results highlight the importance of careful evaluation of robotics given their higher procedural and capital costs," he added.