Mako Robotic Knee Surgery

Dr Ferguson is a firm believer in using innovative technology to enhance and improve his delivery of the highest quality orthopaedic care.

The Mako robot is the most technologically advanced orthopaedic robots available in Australia today. Dr Ferguson is very proud that the Armidale Private Hospital is the first, and currently the only regional hospital in NSW that has this amazing piece of technology. He is able to use this to perform robot-assisted knee replacements, and the Mako SmartRobotics 3D CT planning is used for accurate patient-specific planning of hip replacements.

Mako Robotic Knee Replacement

With this technology, Dr Ferguson is able to accurately plan an operation, personalized to that patient’s knee, and then precisely carry out that plan by guiding a robotic arm to remove the required bone and cartilage.

What is involved? 

Dr Ferguson will arrange for you to have a CT scan which is then used to create a 3D virtual model of your knee anatomy. This model is then loaded into the Mako SmartRobotics software, which is used to develop a personalized pre-operative plan for your knee replacement.

During the operation, Dr Ferguson uses a special probe to locate points on your knee, which then enables the Mako system to match up your knee with the 3D virtual model from the planning process.

The next step involves Dr Ferguson putting your knee through a full range of movement, whilst also stressing the ligaments to find if there is any tightness or looseness. The operative plan can then be modified, taking this information into account so that at the end of the procedure you have a perfectly balanced knee.

Finally, Dr Ferguson brings in the robotic arm, and guides it whilst it precisely cuts the bone according to the plan. The robot has virtual boundaries and provides physical feedback to Dr Ferguson to prevent excess bone from being removed, and minimizing any possible soft tissue damage.