Introduction: There is growing interest and enthusiasm for robotic total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Many robotic systems require registration of bony landmarks as well as a dynamic soft tissue evaluation to plan femoral and tibial resections. Variability in this user-driven registration can introduce error and undermine the purported precision and accuracy offered by robotics. The purpose of this study was to evaluate inter- and intrarater reliability in robotic registration with a new robotic system (ROSA®; Zimmer-Biomet, Warsaw, IN).
Methods: Two unpaired cadaveric knee specimens were exposed, and optical arrays were placed into the femur and tibia. Three separate evaluators conducted repeated trials of anatomic registration and assessment of soft tissue laxity, as well as coronal alignment, sagittal alignment, femoral size, and maximum opening in the medial and lateral compartments in both flexion and extension. Repeated trials were conducted using these specimens with and without preoperative imaging for landmarking (image-based and image-free workflows). An Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) was calculated for each observer and across observers to determine intra-and interrater reliability, respectively, in robotic registration.
Results: There was good to excellent reliability for all conditions, and all correlation coefficients were >0.767. On average, ICCs for intrarater reliability were excellent for Doctor 1 (0.952), Doctor 2 (0.975), and Doctor 3 (0.925). On average, the ICCs for interrater reliability were excellent for both the "Registration + Gap Assessment" condition (0.961) and the "Gap Assessment" condition (0.994).
Conclusion: Our results show a high repeatability of registration of anatomic landmarks and gap assessment among observers using this robotic system for both image-based and image-free software.