Robotic-Arm Assisted Lateral Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty: Case Series with Minimum Five-Year Follow-Up

Introduction: Lateral unicompartmental knee arthroplasty has been shown to be a successful treatment modality for isolated lateral osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. The reproduction of proper knee kinematics, limb alignment, as well as proper soft tissue balancing and component positioning have been shown to be of the utmost importance for a successful unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA). Robotic assistance has shown to be a reliable tool in order to replicate these factors, as compared to manual instrumentation alone. Recent studies have shown the potential of robotic-assisted surgery in controlling these surgical factors for medial UKA; however, studies assessing outcomes of robotic-assisted lateral UKA (RAUKA) are lacking. Therefore, a retrospective single-center study was performed to assess outcomes of lateral RAUKA. Materials and Methods: Patients who underwent lateral RAUKA from a single surgeon at a central institution between January 2008 and June 2017 were identified. All patients received a lateral UKA with a fixed-bearing metal backed onlay tibial component. Patients over the age of 18, with at least a five-year follow-up and a lateral UKA were contacted by phone and asked a series of questions to determine satisfaction and survivorship. Each patient was asked in a “yes” or “no” manner, if they have had their implant revised or reoperated for any reason, and a 5-point Likert scale was used to assess satisfaction. Results: Data was collected from 50 patients (53 knees). Of the patients that responded: 32 (60%) were right knees; 32 (60%) were female, and average follow-up was 7.6 years (5–14 years). Of the 53 knees, one had a revision (98% survivorship). Excluding the revision, 51 (98%) of the included cases were either “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with their surgery. Discussion/Conclusions: Robotic-arm assisted lateral UKA was found to have high survivorship and a satisfaction rate in patients that had at least a five-year follow-up. In the future, larger prospective comparison studies with longer follow-ups are necessary to adequately compare survivorship and satisfaction rates of robotic-assisted lateral UKA to conventional UKA.