Enjoying new-found mobility after robotic-assisted knee replacement

As a carman who maintains railcars for TTX, Pat Haines is used to being on his feet. Every day he builds truck sets, changes wheels and inspects an average of 55 cars – about 10,000 feet of train. About six years ago he started noticing intermittent pain in his right knee as he went about his work, and as the years went on, it became more and more persistent. “Mobility is important for my job,” says Haines, adding that the pain started to become unbearable about three years ago. “Walking to inspect cars, it hurt. I had a lot of limping, a lot of pain.”

To maintain that mobility, Haines sought medical attention. He initially saw a doctor who performed knee arthroscopy, or a “knee scope” as it’s commonly called, to repair a torn meniscus, but when he returned to work the pain persisted. It was at this point that Haines was connected with Dr. Samuel Robinson, an orthopedic surgeon with Sentara Leigh Hospital. An x-ray showed that the cartilage in parts of his knee were totally worn away, leaving bone rubbing against bone. The verdict? Haines was a good candidate for total knee replacement.

Total knee replacement (TKR), which has been in widespread use since the 1970s, involves removing damaged cartilage and bone from the knee joint and replacing them with an artificial knee. It is performed to relieve pain, to restore mobility and to allow patients to resume physical activities that knee pain was preventing them from doing. What’s notable about Haines’ procedure? He was among the first patients to undergo robotic-assisted TKR at Sentara Leigh Hospital.

The cutting edge of TKR technology

The VELYS™ Robotic-Assisted Solution, as the device is officially called, is a complete system composed of a high-speed camera, optical trackers and a robotic arm. It is designed to give surgeons highly detailed data about the knee they’re working on and to make extremely precise cuts.

Dr. Robinson has nearly two decades of experience performing traditional TKR procedures and still does them. He says that the biggest benefit of using the VELYS™ system is that it gives him a lot of hard data to back up decisions he would previously have made based solely on experience. “It’s easier to sleep well at night knowing that you have objective data to support what you did that day,” says Dr. Robinson.

But while the VELYS™ system is at the cutting-edge of medical technology, at the end of the day it’s still just a tool. Surgeons – and the highly trained teams of OR technicians, nurse anesthetist, anesthesiologists, and other assistants who support them – are still calling the shots.

For Haines, the decision to go for robotic-assisted surgery was not one that he took lightly. Knowing that the VELYS™ system enhances the skills of a highly trained surgeon, rather than replacing them, was what ultimately led him to choose that route. “I was a little nervous because the robot’s going to be cutting you,” says Haines. “But the doctor will be right there with you. And knowing it can make that small of an adjustment that accurately and easily, it took a lot of stress and nervousness away for me.

Haines' surgery went smoothly, and within a matter of hours he was already on the road to recovery. “They had me do physical therapy the day of surgery, and by the next day I was up out of the bed doing my stretches and moving around,” says Haines.

Coming back stronger than ever

It’s now been several weeks since the surgery, and Haines is ahead of schedule when it comes to recovery milestones. “I’m basically back to full life,” says Haines. “I’m driving, going out. I even went to see my daughter up in Lynchburg and had no problem with the drive.” It’ll be a few more weeks before Haines can return to work, but he’s confident that when he does it will be without the pain that has plagued him for years.

Haines credits Dr. Robinson, the team at Sentara Leigh Hospital and the VELYS™ Robotic-Assisted Solution for giving him back the mobility that knee pain has taken from him over the years.

“Dr. Robinson was very honest and straightforward, he told me ‘I can’t make you 20 again. But I can make you pain free.’” says Haines. “He said I'd come back stronger than I was before the surgery. So far I’ve been very strong.”

Let us help you become mobile again. Learn more about Sentara’s joint replacement program.