On Wednesday, March 1, 2023, Dr. Bob Marchand of Ortho Rhode Island reached a global milestone after becoming the first orthopedic surgeon in the world to complete their 9,000th Mako-assisted procedure. As part of Ortho Rhode Island’s pioneering joint replacement team, Dr. Marchand is one of the foremost robotic surgeons in the world.

“Thirteen years ago, we brought Mako to South County Health to offer state-of-the-art treatment that puts patients’ needs and outcomes at the center of our care,” Dr. Marchand said. “It’s a privilege to have helped thousands of patients with robotic-assisted procedures, and to grow this technology along with our expert team at Ortho Rhode Island.”

Dr. Marchand’s leadership role in robotic-assisted surgery has been crucial to the development and training of orthopedic surgeons around the world, as well as of his colleagues at Ortho Rhode Island. There, he collaborates closely with a team of highly skilled robotic-assisted joint replacement surgeons that includes Dr. David Vegari, Dr. Jason Tartaglione, Dr. Sidney Migliori, Dr. Michael Mason, Dr. Roald Llado, Dr. Andrew Kay, Dr. Nathan Howlett, Dr. David Burns, and Dr. Michael Bradley. This team is dedicated to using innovative technology like robotics to deliver patient-centered care and superior outcomes.

Through a partnership with Ortho Rhode Island, and the opening of the Center for Advanced Orthopedic Surgery at South County Hospital, South County Health is a global leader in robotic-assisted surgery. Since pioneering the use of Stryker’s Mako SmartRobotics™ surgical technology for hip and knee replacements in 2010, the expert surgeons at Ortho Rhode Island have performed more than 17,000 robotic-assisted hip and knee replacement surgeries at South County Hospital.

Mako SmartRobotics™ is an advancement in joint replacement surgery that transforms the way total knee, partial knee and total hip replacements are performed, by helping surgeons know more and cut less. Mako SmartRobotics™ combines three key components, 3D CT-based planning, AccuStopTM haptic technology and insightful data analytics, into one platform that has shown better outcomes for total knee, total hip and partial knee patients.

The response from patients who undergo orthopedic procedures with Mako technology is a testament to the benefits it brings. Allan Hurst, a retired robotics teacher from Cranston, was Dr. Marchand’s first patient to undergo a partial knee replacement on December 10, 2010. To this day, Hurst still credits Dr. Marchand and South County Hospital for returning him to an active lifestyle pain free. Tim O’Shea, a former Division I basketball coach, who happened to be the milestone patient for Dr. Marchand, was pain free as he enjoyed shooting free throws less than 36 hours following his surgery.

Robotic-Assisted Surgery at South County Health

In addition to being a global leader in Mako-assisted procedures, South County Hospital uses more robotic technology than all other hospitals in the state including; featuring six (6) minimally invasive robotic surgeons that are da Vinci Xi trained to perform a variety of surgeries including: urological, colorectal, gynecologic, and general surgery. In 2019, South County Hospital’s operating rooms were also the first in the state to utilize ExcelsiusGPS, a navigation-guided, robotic-assisted system for spine surgery.