A Nova Scotia surgeon has completed the first robot-assisted hip replacement in Canada at Dartmouth General Hospital (DGH).
“It’s adding a level of precision and accuracy that we’ve never really been able to before,” Dr. Jennifer Leighton said in the announcement on Friday.
“This is going to be tremendous, not only for Nova Scotians, but for all of Canada.”
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Leighton performed the first surgery using the Mako SmartRobotics system in November 2022, and has now performed multiple surgeries to replace hips and knees for Halifax-area patients.
The Meko robot is being used to better specify procedures for each patient’s body, customizing differences attributed to gender and ethnicity.
“Our ability to do 3D planning before and during surgery to accommodate the patient’s bone anatomy, their ligaments, their soft tissue and how their joint moves in space – this is something we can do with two-dimensional Never been able to do that with X-rays,” said the orthopedic surgeon.
The first total hip replacement surgery in Canada using the Mako SmartRobotics system has been completed at Dartmouth General Hospital.
Megan King / Global News
Helen Young, a patient who recently underwent knee replacement surgery at DGH using the Mako robot, told Global News she was out of surgery and going home within six hours.
“It was a seamless process,” Young said.
The new technology will be used to increase patient satisfaction and reduce pain, inflammation, length of stay and the need for narcotics.
Only eight Nova Scotia surgeons and one Ontario surgeon have been trained to use the new technology.
Megan King / Global News
Leighton says the robot allows for added precision in his work, which he hopes will reduce the rate of revision surgeries.
“Re-surgeries are a huge burden on the system,” Leighton said.
“They take at least twice as long as the first surgery. They stay in the hospital for several more days than go home the same day or the next morning. And as far as recovery goes, the risks and complications It can be a big burden for the patient.”
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By November 2022, 90 percent of hip replacement surgery patients at DGH receive service within 472 days – faster than 637 days for 90 percent of all patients in Nova Scotia.
For knee replacement, 90 percent of DGH patients received service within 616 days, compared to a wait of 727 days for 90 percent of all Nova Scotians.
As the only province in Canada with two orthopedic robots and a strong research program behind it, Leighton says Nova Scotia will have a large presence in the robotics space both nationally and internationally.
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