Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center is the first hospital in the Metro Washington, D.C., area performing minimally invasive total knee replacement using the MAKOPlasty® robotics system. MAKOplasty®, less invasive than traditional joint replacement surgery, is performed using a surgeon-controlled robotic arm to enhance stability and increase range of motion.
Virginia, a 65-year-old from Rockville, Maryland, United States, was the first Shady Grove patient to receive a total knee replacement with the technology. Shady Grove surgeon Sridhar Durbhakula performed the operation in late April. Virginia said before surgery, arthritis had severely limited her life. “I was not able to do some of my daily activities, and none of my recreational activities.”
Two-and-a-half weeks after the procedure, Virginia was walking without assistance, and her therapists reported that she had regained 95 percent of her strength and mobility. “I had a cane, but I didn’t need it,” she said. Now she is looking forward to getting back to hiking and white-water canoeing, which she had stopped before surgery because she could not kneel.
![Doctors Mark Peterson, left, and Sridhar Durbhakula, who are responsible for the new robotic knee replacement procedure at Shady Grove Medical Center. [Photo: Adventist HealthCare]](https://adventistreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/20170420-9863.jpg)
This new technology adds to the robotic capabilities for partial knee and total hip replacements already in place at Shady Grove. In 2015, the hospital became the first in the region to acquire a MAKOplasty® orthopedic robot.
“With this latest addition to our orthopedics program, we are now uniquely positioned to serve patients seeking knee and hip replacements,” said Kevin Smothers, chief medical officer of the medical center whose stated mission is “to extend God’s care through the ministry of physical, mental and spiritual healing.”
“This technology provides our patients with a minimally invasive surgery option,” said Smothers. “It is something which provides them with a shorter hospital stay, better outcomes, and faster recovery so that they can get back to their lives and daily activities.”
The comprehensive Joint Center at Shady Grove Medical Center holds The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for joint replacement of hips and knees. Shady Grove’s program provides a continuum of quality care that includes a free workshop before surgery to help patients and families understand what to expect during and after the procedure.
After surgery, patients recover in private rooms on a dedicated orthopedic unit staffed by an orthopedic-certified nurse clinical coordinator and orthopedically-trained nurses and therapists who assist patients with individualized pain management and same-day physical and occupational therapy. Board-certified orthopedic surgeons perform more than 800 joint replacements a year in Shady Grove Medical Center’s state-of-the-art surgical suites.
Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center is a not-for-profit, 290-bed acute care facility in Rockville, Maryland, part of Adventist HealthCare’s system of healthcare services. The hospital is nationally recognized for cancer care, cardiac and vascular services, as well as orthopedics and joint replacement. The facility is the first in the state and one of only a few hundred in the country to hold an international designation for breastfeeding and maternity care.
