The age of patients with knee artificial joint surgery at Himchan Hospital increased by 6 years from 18 years ago, why?
May 27, 2025
According to a survey conducted by Himchan Hospital (CEO Lee Soo-chan), the average age of knee artificial joint surgery patients increased by about 6 years compared to 18 years ago.
According to a comparison between 2,300 patients (2,678) for one year from August 2006 to August 2007 and 1,21 patients (2805) for one year from April 2024 to April 2025, the average age of surgical patients increased by more than 6 years from 65.3 to 71.5 years. This is attributed to the aging population, active treatment according to increased life expectancy, and the development of artificial joint surgery technologies such as robotic surgery machines.
Nam Chang-hyun, medical director of Himchan Hospital Joint Clinic (Orthopedic Surgeon), said "As life expectancy increases due to the entry of a super-aged society, it has become more important for artificial joint surgery to reduce the surgical burden on elderly patients by reducing side effects and complications as much as possible while increasing the accuracy of surgery."
This is why robotic surgery machines have been actively used recently. The most dangerous factor in surgery in elderly patients is side effects or complications. Reducing the amount of bleeding is the key to lowering it.
According to a survey conducted by Himchan Hospital's Arthology Research Institute, the amount of bleeding decreased by about 30% due to robotic surgery.
Before the introduction of the robotic surgery machine, there were cases where two to three cases a year were transferred to a high-level general hospital due to decreased systemic function, delirium, and severe hypotension due to a large amount of bleeding, but there are few cases when performing robotic surgery.
According to a survey of 6,661 (12,298 cases) who have undergone robotic artificial joint surgery since 2020, 706 patients aged 80 or older accounted for a total of 10.6%. Of these, seven were over 90 years old, and most of them had no special side effects or complications.
The accuracy of robotic surgery is expected to have a positive effect on the lifespan of artificial joints. Artificial joints must be re-opened when their lifespan expires due to wear or corrosion, but re-operation is more difficult and takes longer than the first operation. In particular, in the case of elderly patients, reoperation itself may be difficult due to underlying diseases.
Currently, the lifespan of artificial joints is estimated to be more than 20 years. In fact, according to a survey of 103 patients who underwent knee artificial joint surgery in 2006, 94.2% (97 people) said they are still satisfied with the surgery after about 19 years. If the artificial joint is inserted into a more accurate position by robotic surgery, it will reduce the burden on the artificial joint after surgery and slow down the wear, allowing the artificial joint to be used for a longer time.
Nam Chang-hyun, head of the Medical Center, said "As pain and joint function improve after artificial joint surgery, the amount of activity or exercise increases, muscle mass increases, and bone density can be improved. As such, artificial joint surgery can improve the quality of life in old age, so active treatment is needed for healthy old age." According to a research paper published by Himchan Hospital in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, an international SCIE-level journal, muscle mass and bone density increased significantly until 12 months after knee artificial joint surgery.
Meanwhile, Himchan Hospital performed a total of 52,473 knee artificial joint surgeries for 18 years from its opening in August 2006 to August 2024. In other words, an average of 3,000 surgeries (about 2,915) were performed annually. In particular, as of December last year, more than 13,000 knee artificial joint surgeries using Makorobots and Rosarobots, which account for about 63% of domestic artificial joint surgery robots, were recognized as a single hospital. Among them, the number of macorobot surgeries performed in 2023 and 2024 is known to be the largest in the world.
According to a comparison between 2,300 patients (2,678) for one year from August 2006 to August 2007 and 1,21 patients (2805) for one year from April 2024 to April 2025, the average age of surgical patients increased by more than 6 years from 65.3 to 71.5 years. This is attributed to the aging population, active treatment according to increased life expectancy, and the development of artificial joint surgery technologies such as robotic surgery machines.
Nam Chang-hyun, medical director of Himchan Hospital Joint Clinic (Orthopedic Surgeon), said "As life expectancy increases due to the entry of a super-aged society, it has become more important for artificial joint surgery to reduce the surgical burden on elderly patients by reducing side effects and complications as much as possible while increasing the accuracy of surgery."
This is why robotic surgery machines have been actively used recently. The most dangerous factor in surgery in elderly patients is side effects or complications. Reducing the amount of bleeding is the key to lowering it.
According to a survey conducted by Himchan Hospital's Arthology Research Institute, the amount of bleeding decreased by about 30% due to robotic surgery.
Before the introduction of the robotic surgery machine, there were cases where two to three cases a year were transferred to a high-level general hospital due to decreased systemic function, delirium, and severe hypotension due to a large amount of bleeding, but there are few cases when performing robotic surgery.
According to a survey of 6,661 (12,298 cases) who have undergone robotic artificial joint surgery since 2020, 706 patients aged 80 or older accounted for a total of 10.6%. Of these, seven were over 90 years old, and most of them had no special side effects or complications.
The accuracy of robotic surgery is expected to have a positive effect on the lifespan of artificial joints. Artificial joints must be re-opened when their lifespan expires due to wear or corrosion, but re-operation is more difficult and takes longer than the first operation. In particular, in the case of elderly patients, reoperation itself may be difficult due to underlying diseases.
Currently, the lifespan of artificial joints is estimated to be more than 20 years. In fact, according to a survey of 103 patients who underwent knee artificial joint surgery in 2006, 94.2% (97 people) said they are still satisfied with the surgery after about 19 years. If the artificial joint is inserted into a more accurate position by robotic surgery, it will reduce the burden on the artificial joint after surgery and slow down the wear, allowing the artificial joint to be used for a longer time.
Nam Chang-hyun, head of the Medical Center, said "As pain and joint function improve after artificial joint surgery, the amount of activity or exercise increases, muscle mass increases, and bone density can be improved. As such, artificial joint surgery can improve the quality of life in old age, so active treatment is needed for healthy old age." According to a research paper published by Himchan Hospital in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, an international SCIE-level journal, muscle mass and bone density increased significantly until 12 months after knee artificial joint surgery.
Meanwhile, Himchan Hospital performed a total of 52,473 knee artificial joint surgeries for 18 years from its opening in August 2006 to August 2024. In other words, an average of 3,000 surgeries (about 2,915) were performed annually. In particular, as of December last year, more than 13,000 knee artificial joint surgeries using Makorobots and Rosarobots, which account for about 63% of domestic artificial joint surgery robots, were recognized as a single hospital. Among them, the number of macorobot surgeries performed in 2023 and 2024 is known to be the largest in the world.
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
