CORI: New type of robotic surgery gives one woman a better knee

Nearly 800,000 knee replacements are performed each year in the United States, and the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons estimates that will increase by a staggering 180% by 2030.

Now, a new robotic tech is getting patients back to what doctors call “optimal function.”

Susan Cusack, 75, is a champion on the pickleball court, but one day in 2018, “The ball came across the net, it was a very low shot, I went to go return it and I heard a very loud crunch in my right knee.”

Her arthritic knee had given out and needed to be replaced.

“When I went back to pickleball about eight or nine weeks after surgery, I could jump, I could run on the courts,” Cusack described.

But then just two years later, Cusack dove for another low shot and, “This time the loud crunch was in my left knee. So, I thought, ‘Hm, this is familiar to me.'”

This time, Dr. Henry Finn offered Cusack a new approach. It puts robotic technology in the palm of his hand.

“We believe that by using this device, there is improved sizing and placement of the components, which is more accurate than traditional techniques,” explained Finn, the medical director at Chicago Center for Orthopedics & Robotic-Assisted Surgery.

Finn used the CORI surgical system, or Core of Real Intelligence.

“The computer directs a handheld cutting tool that is used to accurately remove and shape the ends of the bones during the knee replacement surgery,” Finn illustrated.

It results in better balance and stability, meaning Cusack can dominate on the courts for many years to come.

“I just want to be able to do, selfishly, whatever I want to do!” she said.

In addition to a smaller incision, less bleeding, and less time on the surgical table, patients who undergo knee replacement with the CORI surgical system also have a faster recovery. Cusack was able to go home the day after her surgery.