Robotic Arm-Assisted TKR Offers Similar Outcome to Conventional TKR

TUESDAY, Aug. 25, 2026 (HealthDay News) — For patients with advanced knee osteoarthritis, total knee replacement (TKR) with the Mako robotic arm-assisted system (rTKR) offers similar benefit to TKR with conventional instruments (cTKR), according to a study published in the August issue of The Lancet.

Helen Parsons, Ph.D., from the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom, and colleagues conducted a participant-masked and assessor-masked pragmatic, superiority, randomized controlled trial involving 33 surgeons from 10 hospitals. Patients with advanced knee osteoarthritis underwent cTKR or rTKR: 171 and 168 patients, respectively. The Forgotten Joint Score (FJS) was measured as the primary outcome at 12 months after randomization according to the intention-to-treat principle.

The researchers found that the mean FJS was 49.2 and 50.2 in the rTKR and cTKR groups, respectively, at 12 months, with an adjusted mean difference of −1.5 (95 percent confidence interval, −7.5 to 4.5; P = 0.62) favoring cTKR. One serious adverse event occurred in 16 participants in each group.

“Technology such as this could really help the care we give for patients, but for robotic-assisted knee replacements, there is still work to do before we see benefits such as less pain or better movement,” coauthor Andrew Metcalfe, Ph.D., also from the University of Warwick, said in a statement.

Several authors disclosed ties to the medical device industries.

Abstract/Full Text