Farmer, 91, back on his tractor after 'miraculous' robotic surgery

Great-grandfather, Owen John Thomas, was one of the first patients to have a knee replaced using robotic technology at Spire Murrayfield hospital.

The hospital is the first in Merseyside to offer cutting-edge robotic technology which helps surgeons plan and perform personalised bone cuts so they can fit implants more precisely according to a patient’s individual anatomy rather than following universal surgical measurements.

The technique has been credited with achieving faster recovery times, less pain and a more ‘natural’ feel in the knee joint.

Mr Thomas’ son, Tudor, described the surgery as “miraculous” and said his dad was on his feet –  walking unaided – less than 24 hours after the operation and is already back enjoying life on his tractor. 

Spire Murrayfield patient Owen Thomas back on his farm in Holyhead after his successful knee operations (Image: Mandy Jones Photography)

He said: “It was miraculous how well he actually felt afterward. He was back on his feet straight away and hardly took any painkillers at all.

“He’s back doing what he was doing 10 or 20 years ago – it was absolutely marvelous and has definitely given him a new quality of life.”

Mr Thomas sought help last year after suffering a fall and losing all his mobility.

Tudor said: “He couldn’t put any weight on the left knee yet he’d always been very active all his life. Previous to the fall, he was busy doing everything around the farm, driving around on his tractor.”

Mr Muthu Ganapathi, who performed the surgery, explained that while traditional knee replacements are considered a successful form of surgery, multiple studies have shown that only 80 per cent of patients report optimal outcome post-surgery compared to 95 per cent of hip replacement patients.

He said: “Robotic-assisted technology has been around for more than a decade but previously it was quite cumbersome.

“The important development now is that it allows for personalised knee replacement. Essentially, the aim of personalised alignment knee replacement is to return the knee joint close to pre-arthritic anatomy in the hope that we can reduce the proportion of dissatisfied patients.

“To use a very simple analogy, it’s the difference between wearing a ready-made shirt or wearing a shirt that has been stitched personally for you.

“Also, because we restore the knee to as close to how it was before, the need to do soft tissue release to make space for the implant is less. This means less pain and a faster recovery.”