On June 17, 2025, the Orthopedic Department team at Weihai People's Hospital successfully performed a total knee replacement surgery on 70-year-old patient Liu Aunty from Rongcheng using an intelligent surgical robot. This marks the first robot-assisted joint replacement surgery in Weihai, signaling the official entry of local orthopedic care into the "digital precision medicine" era.
Seventy-year-old woman bids farewell to two decades of knee pain: Robot-assisted surgery delivers precise, customized treatment
Ms. Liu had suffered from severe osteoarthritis of the knee for nearly 20 years, with severe pain and limited mobility in her left knee. After conservative treatments proved ineffective, she sought surgical intervention. The hospital's orthopedic team utilized robotic-assisted technology, constructing a three-dimensional skeletal model using thin-slice CT scans prior to surgery to customize the osteotomy plan and prosthesis parameters. During the procedure, the robotic arm executed the osteotomy with ±0.3 millimeter precision, continuously monitoring soft tissue tension and adjusting the prosthesis position to maintain angular error within 1 degree. On the evening of the surgery, Ms. Liu began joint function exercises, with significant pain relief observed.
From "experience-driven" to "data-driven": Technological breakthroughs reshape surgical paradigms
Unlike traditional surgery, which relies on the surgeon's experience, the robot-assisted system achieves a closed-loop management process of "preoperative planning - intraoperative navigation - postoperative verification." Its core advantages include: precise matching of patient skeletal morphology through digital modeling, reducing soft tissue trauma and bleeding by approximately 30% compared to traditional surgical methods; dynamic force line balancing technology ensures uniform lower limb loading after prosthesis implantation, with an expected increase in long-term joint lifespan of over 20%.
Accelerating the construction of a digitalized diagnostic and treatment network
The head of the hospital's orthopedic department stated that the application of robotic technology will gradually expand into fields such as spinal surgery and complex fracture reduction, driving the establishment of a diagnostic and treatment system featuring "personalized preoperative design - intelligent intraoperative execution - comprehensive postoperative rehabilitation management," providing regional orthopedic patients with more minimally invasive, safe, and precise medical services.