Image courtesy of Baptist Health Robotic surgery can help surgeons perform complex procedures with greater precision, flexibility and control. As a result, the robotic surgery market is growing quickly – especially in orthopedics.
In 2024, the global market for robotic surgical procedures was valued at over $11 billion. The market is expected to grow from $13.3 million in 2025 to $42.2 billion in 2032, according to data from Fortune Business Insights.
North America dominated the robotic surgical procedures market, accounting for 74.7% of the market in 2024. Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) performed approximately 55,265 robotic-assisted procedures in 2018 alone, and this number is rising, according to research published in the Journal of Surgical Research.
To explore these trends, ASC News interviewed Dr. Alexander van der Ven, a fellowship-trained, board-certified orthopedic surgeon and the head of the joint replacement division at Baptist Health Orthopedic Care in South Florida. Dr. van der Ven spoke about the rapid increase in joint replacement surgeries, especially among baby boomers, and emphasized the advantages of robotics in orthopedic procedures.
The conversation below has been edited for clarity and length.
ASC News: Tell me a little about your role at Baptist Health.
Dr. van der Ven: I’m an orthopedic surgeon and part of Baptist Health South Florida, a large nonprofit organization providing services to the South Florida community. We have approximately 11 hospitals.
The orthopedic division covers the tri-county area, with the largest joint replacement division located in Miami. I’m the head of that department, which has seven team members.
We’ve experienced tremendous growth over the years, driven by the success of the system and population demand, making it a great place to be. It’s an excellent partnership that aligns with what we do, what the system needs and how we serve the community.
What are the demographics of the patients you serve?
You may have heard of the silver tsunami, which is happening, especially in the medical field. Baby boomers are reaching their peak years for health care needs, and orthopedic surgery, particularly joint replacements, is one of the largest areas of demand.
We expect continued growth over the next 10 to 15 years, potentially doubling the volume. That places a huge strain on the health care system’s resources, and the situation will likely worsen in the coming years. Therefore, we must be innovative in how we deliver care – it needs to be efficient and cost-effective.
Tell me about your robotics program and its growth.
There are many trends aimed at enhancing the patient experience, improving clinical outcomes and increasing the longevity of joint replacements. We want to be efficient and successful. Robotics has helped us reduce physical strain, improve accuracy and increase success rates in partial knee replacements. They allow us to be more precise and will likely enable us to perform more cementless knee surgeries, which are quicker because you don’t have to wait for the cement to dry.
There’s an efficiency aspect in allowing us to use more cementless technology and implants, which reduces the physical burden and potentially improves the patient’s longevity; therefore, the complication rate is likely to be lower.
How long have you been using robotics in surgery?
We’ve been using robotics for about four years now. Although the technology has been out longer, each surgeon has a different technology adoption rate.
What led your center to move in the direction of robotics?
The need for more consistency in the operating room (OR) was evident. It enables a more uniform and predictable operation. You gain much more information about what you’re doing, making it less limiting.
Even with years of experience, some outliers can still be an emotional and stressful burden to determine the correct answer. Robotics provides you with much more specific information on alignment. We’re getting more pre-operative scans of patients, and we take some of that information, register it with the robot and the patient, and make many surgical decisions on a virtual model. It cuts out a lot of the gray area that is frustrating for a non-technology-based procedure – confirming you have the proper alignment, confirming you have the range of motion you’re looking for and confirming you have the ligament stability that you’re looking for. It’s an extra way to validate some of your decisions and increase their accuracy and precision.
There are many types of robotics machines you could use. How do you determine which one is right for your purposes?
These systems can be very costly. It’s a significant capital investment. We’ve been fortunate to evaluate many of the major vendors. You want reliable technology, but you also want an implant that has been tested and validated. You want your surgeons to feel confident.
We focus on things that complement what we’re doing. Not every piece of technology complements it – sometimes it’s just a substitute. Certain robots or robotic arms can reduce some of the variability of a human arm. A robotic arm complements the surgeon’s arm, allowing for more precise surgical cuts.
Certain robots also use navigation to create a 3D model of the joint you’re working on, and they can cross-reference some of their preoperative imaging with the live surgery to improve accuracy.
You want something efficient. You want something that works well. You want something that won’t break down mid-surgery. You want something with good customer service and support. Some robots are released too quickly, and some of the kinks aren’t worked out. It can be frustrating to deal with that during a live operation. It’s a balance of things.
Is there a lot of training required when implementing a tool like this?
Every robot has a learning curve, so you want one with a relatively easy learning curve to facilitate the surgery. There is a lot of training involved with all of these. We want to ensure that a surgeon is competent to operate such equipment. Again, it is not a substitute for the surgeon; the surgeon still performs the surgery. It’s a tool to improve the surgical process.
We do require documented training and supervision from the vendor, but each piece of technology requires a different amount of learning and experience before you can fully leverage it.
What are some successes you’ve been able to document because of robotics?
One issue with knee replacement surgery is that some patients experience difficulty with flexibility or movement, leading to stiffness. It is well documented in the literature that many patients require a follow-up procedure, usually six to eight weeks after the initial surgery, to perform a manipulation under anesthesia. This involves bending the knee to break up scar tissue and help the patient catch up in their recovery. This is a crucial intervention because if missed, the stiffness can sometimes become permanent. It is also important to be proactive in breaking up the scar tissue.
Over the years, my manipulation rate has been about 3%, and that’s relatively consistent with the literature. Since I’ve been using robotic technology, the manipulation rate has dropped to about 0.8%—about 75% — which is a real win. That’s a win for the patient, it’s a win for the surgeons, and it’s a win for the health system, as it decreases the need for subsequent procedures after unit placement surgery.
Looking ahead, what expansion plans do you have for the robotics program?
We’ve been gathering data to help make adjustments. The next step is to correlate some of that information with patient outcomes and develop algorithms to determine whether our decisions led to specific long-term outcomes for the patient. Not just from the surgeon’s perspective, but from the patient’s as well. For example, how much were they walking a year later? How much was their knee bending two years later? This will enable us to identify connections and correlations that can guide future decisions.
We are all eagerly waiting for this data to assist our decision-making and surgery. Artificial intelligence (AI) should be able to provide an answer in about two years; we’re simply waiting.
What are you most looking forward to in your practice in 2026?
We’re excited to continue improving the throughput for these patients and getting more of them home the same day. Each year, it seems to get better with our anesthesia techniques, blood conservation methods, surgical techniques, patient education, and patient optimization.
We’re seeing the industry continue to develop solutions to meet our needs. Cementless technology will continue to expand, reducing OR time. Our comfort levels will also improve, enabling a more efficient patient experience that allows patients to go home and recover in their own beds.
One more thing I’m excited for is not so much in the OR but in the clinic encounter. To have AI interpret the patient visit and generate recommendations that may not be obvious to the physician. There may be enough triggers in the conversation for AI to submit a differential diagnosis. Soon enough, we expect to see that.
As a clinician, that’s really where I’m going to see the most value, instead of having to type my encounter and not pay attention to the patient – having software listening to our conversation, interpreting and giving recommendations, that’s valuable.
