Makoplasty Robotic Partial Knee Replacement
Performed by Kevin R. Stone, MD · 2018 · San Francisco, CA
Quick Facts
- Procedure Type
- Robotic-Assisted Arthroplasty
- Technology
- Mako Robotic System
- Implant
- Unicompartmental
- Indication
- Isolated Compartment Arthritis
Patient Story
This video features patient John Lyman, an Alaska ski instructor who returned to skiing within months of surgery.
Summary
Makoplasty combines robotic precision with the surgeon's expertise for unicompartmental (partial) knee replacement. The Mako robotic system assists in precise bone preparation and implant positioning, preserving healthy tissue and ligaments.
Advantages of Robotic Assistance
The robotic system creates a 3D model of the patient's knee from CT imaging, allowing pre-operative planning and intra-operative guidance. The surgeon remains in control while the robot provides boundaries to prevent over-resection.
Patient Transcript
[00:00] John Lyman, Patient
My name's John Lyman. I live in Alaska. Lived up there for about 45 years and spent most of my life out of doors. Ski instructor at Aspen. And wanted to get back to skiing again after my right knee pretty well wore out. Went to several different clinics and settled on Kevin Stone's clinic. And I've had a wonderful experience here. It's been painful, but it was wonderful. We ended up after trying some other things with a full replacement on my right knee three years ago. Did it on July 3rd. And the physical therapy was good enough that I was skiing on December 4th of the same year. Got 105 days in that year.
[01:07]
This is three years later and I've worn out the cartilage behind my kneecap on my left knee. And it got to the point where Synvisc and hyaluronic solutions were no longer lubricating and it was affecting turn shape and I could not climb stairs, and it was very difficult to walk distances. So we came back for a double dose of Dr. Stone's clinic. And when we got here, we found out that a robot was going to assist Dr. Stone on the partial replacement of the patellofemoral. And I wanted to meet the robot. He seemed like a nice enough fellow—didn't say much, but he just stood there, very stoically.
Had a very good experience with the operation. I like going away and coming back and having it done. And now we're in physical therapy. I trust these therapists. It's one of the reasons I come here. As much as I like Dr. Stone and what he does, this physical therapist team is by far the best I've ever worked with. And I've done a lot of PT working out of the woods. We'll see how this goes. We're in the second day. It's a little stiff. The robot grabbed a hold of my leg pretty tightly, and it's gonna be a few days before everything comes back. But looking at the pictures, and from my experience with the clinic before, I expect that I will get between 100 and 130 days of skiing this year. Wide open Aspen Snowmass. I'm looking forward to it.