Safety and efficacy of robot-assisted total knee arthroplasty: a network meta-analysis and systematic review

BACKGROUND: In the context of the aging of the global population, the prevalence of knee joint disorders continues to rise. Concurrently, the integration of robotic systems and intelligent implants represents an inevitable trend in orthopedic surgery. A comprehensive evaluation of the safety and effectiveness of robot-assisted total knee arthroplasty (RA-TKA) is therefore urgently needed to inform clinical decision-making. OBJECTIVE: To explore the advantages of 9 RA-TKAs across 8 outcomes. METHODS: A systematic literature search was conducted in the PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, CBM, CNKI, Wanfang, and VIP databases from inception to December 1, 2025. The risk of bias and methodological quality were assessed via Review Manager (version 5.4). Network meta-analysis was performed via RStudio (version 4.4.1). RESULTS: A total of 36 studies involving 2841 patients were included. In direct comparisons, conventional TKA (C-TKA) yielded shorter operative times than MAKO, HURWA, SkyWalker, ROSA, and Brainlab Knee did. CORI also had a shorter operative time than Brainlab Knee did. Compared with the C-TKA, MAKO, HURWA, SkyWalker and TiRobot groups, the ROSA group presented higher KSS-knee scores. In addition, C-TKA, HURWA, and CORI presented higher KSS-knee scores than did SkyWalker. For the KSS-function scores, the C-TKA and ROSA scores were higher than the HURWA score. C-TKA demonstrated a greater postoperative ROM than HURWA did. For HKA angle deviation, C-TKA resulted in greater deviation than MAKO, HURWA, SkyWalker, TiRobot, and EPMEDBOT did. In the comprehensive best probability ranking, C-TKA (93%) ranked highest in terms of operative time. SkyWalker (87%) ranked highest in terms of blood loss. SkyWalker (91%) ranked highest in terms of the KSS-knee scores. HURWA (87%) ranked highest in terms of the KSS function scores. MAKO (85%) ranked highest for HSS. The YUANHUA (76%) ranked highest for the WOMAC. The CORI (69%) ranked highest for ROM. SkyWalker (87%) ranked highest for HKA angle deviation. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, RA-TKA demonstrated superior safety and effectiveness compared with C-TKA, with different robotic systems exhibiting distinct advantages across outcome measures. Nevertheless, C-TKA retains a significant advantage in reducing the operative time, highlighting an important area for further optimization of robotic-assisted TKA.