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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Robot-assisted total joint arthroplasty (robotic-TJA) has become more widespread over the last 20 years due to higher patient satisfaction and reduced complications. However, robotic-TJA may have longer operative times and increased operating room traffic, which are known risk factors for contamination events. Contamination of surgical instruments may be contact- or airborne-related with documented scalpel blade contamination rates up to 9%. The robot arm is a novel instrument that comes in and out of the surgical field, so our objective was to assess whether the robot-arm is a source of contamination when used in robotic-TJA compared to other surgical instruments.METHODS: This was a prospective, single-institution, single-surgeon pilot study involving 103 robotic TJAs. The robot-arm was swabbed prior to incision and after closure. Pre- and postoperative control swabs were also collected from the suction tip and scalpel blade. Swabs were incubated for 24 hours on tryptic soy agar followed by inspection for growth of any contaminating bacteria.RESULTS: A contamination event was detected in 10 cases (10%). The scalpel blade was the most common site of contamination (8%) followed by the robot-arm (2%) and suction tip (0%).DISCUSSION: Contamination of the robot-arm during robotic-TJA is minimal when compared to contamination of the scalpel blade.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ajic.2024.04.008
View details for PubMedID 38663453