[Clinical outcome, 6 years after robot assisted hip endoprostheses implantation--a prospective study]

In our prospective study we evaluated the clinical and radiological results of 36 patients who had a robot-assisted implantation of a cementless hip endoprosthesis.

All patients underwent a standardised examination preoperatively, 1 year after the operation and 6 years postoperatively. We evaluated the pain of the patients with the help of a visual analogue scale, the range of motion of the hip joint and subjective and objective parameters according to the Harris hip score and the Merle d'Aubigné score. With X-rays loosenings and movement of the stems were evaluated. All patients were operated by the same team.

The clinical results were very good. A highly significant pain reduction could be documented. We also saw a significant improvement in the range of motion and the hip scores. In 1 case a loosening of the stem happened after 5 years, in another patient the stem broke out a few days after implantation. The reason for this was not a mistake of the robot but the wrong preoperative planning. Other complications were not observed.

Considering the good biochemical results in the literature, our study suggests good long-term results after robot-assisted hip surgery. The drawbacks and complications of robot-assisted hip surgery, which were documented especially in the popular press, cannot be confirmed.