Abstract
Purpose We aimed to explore the surgical techniques employed in robot-assisted "Four-guide pin" cannulated screw internal fixation for calcaneal fractures and to evaluate its clinical efficacy compared to traditional surgical treatments.
Methods Retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 57 patients with calcaneal fractures treated from January 2021 to December 2023. The patients were divided into three groups: group A (25 patients, 26 feet) underwent traditional open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF), group B (18 patients, 19 feet) received free-hand cannulated screw fixation, and group C (14 patients, 17 feet) was treated with robot-assisted "four-guide pin" surgery. The general information and clinical parameters of the three groups were statistically analyzed.
Results Patients in three groups were followed up for 6-24 months, and bone union was achieved in all cases. There were no statistically significant differences in the general information among the three groups. However, there were significant differences in preoperative waiting time, unilateral operation time, intraoperative blood loss, length of stay after the operation, bone graft rate, postoperative antibiotic use rate, fixation rate of the sustentaculum tali, rate of postoperative complications, and American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society scores (AOFAS) across the three groups, complications related to the operation occurred in group A and B but were resolved after symptomatic treatment.
Conclusion Compared to ORIF, free-hand cannulated screw internal fixation demonstrates superior clinical advantages in the treatment of calcaneal fractures. The robot-assisted "four-guide pin" technology enhances the accuracy, compensates for inherent limitations, reduce the use rate of antibiotics and expedites patient recovery.