Detecting contamination events during robotic total joint arthroplasty

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic Surgery
• Medical Robotics
• Infectious Disease Control

Background:

• Robot-assisted total joint arthroplasty (robotic-TJA) offers benefits like higher patient satisfaction but may increase contamination risks due to longer operative times and increased operating room traffic.
• Surgical instrument contamination, whether contact- or airborne-related, is a concern, with documented scalpel blade contamination rates up to 9%.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess if the robot arm is a source of bacterial contamination during robotic-TJA.
• To compare contamination rates of the robot arm with other surgical instruments like the scalpel blade and suction tip.

Main Methods:

• A prospective, single-institution pilot study involving 103 robotic TJAs.
• Swabs were collected from the robot arm (pre-incision and post-closure), suction tip, and scalpel blade.
• Swabs were incubated to detect bacterial growth.

Main Results:

• Overall contamination was detected in 10% of cases.
• The scalpel blade showed the highest contamination rate at 8%.
• The robot arm had a contamination rate of 2%, and the suction tip had 0%.

Conclusions:

• Robotic TJA procedures have an approximate 10% rate of bacterial contamination.
• While the robot arm is a potential source, it accrues bacterial contamination less frequently than the scalpel blade.