Robotic Total Hip Replacement Surgery in Dogs

Approximately half of the over 120,000 total hip replacement operations performed annually in the United States use cementless implants. The standard method for preparing the femoral cavity for such implants uses a mallet-driven hand-held broach whose shape matches that of (he desired implant. In-vitro experiments have supported the possibility (ha( a more accurate (and, we expect, more efficacious) result can be achieved by using a robot to machine the cavity. We are now developing a second-generation system suitable for use in an operating room, targeted at clinical trials on dogs needing hip implants. This summary describes the background, objectives, architecture, and surgical procedure for this system. It also provides brief descriptions of key results from our earlier experiments and of some of our planned future work.