William L. Bargar
S.P.E.C.I.E.S., Berufsgenossenschaftliche Unfallklinik Frankfurt am Main, Integrated Systems Solutions (United States), Sutter Medical Center, Integrated Software (United States), Sutter Davis Hospital, University of California, Davis, Colorado Joint Replacement, Orthopaedic Research Laboratories
Papers
20
Total Citations
2,197
H-Index
13
About
William L. Bargar is a pioneering orthopedic surgeon and biomedical engineer whose career has been defined by a singular, transformative mission: bringing robotic precision to joint replacement surgery. Beginning in the early 1990s, Bargar was among the founding architects of the ROBODOC system, one of the world's first image-directed surgical robots, developed specifically to improve the accuracy of cementless total hip arthroplasty. His foundational papers from 1991 to 1995 laid the conceptual and technical groundwork for an entirely new field, collectively garnering over 800 citations and establishing safety protocols, preoperative CT-based planning through the ORTHODOC workstation, and robotic bone-machining techniques that achieved dimensional accuracy far exceeding conventional manual methods. His research expanded into total knee arthroplasty, with a 2012 study demonstrating that robotic-assisted TKA significantly reduces alignment outliers — earning 440 citations. A 2017 paper offering fourteen-year randomized clinical trial follow-up data underscored the long-term viability of his approach. Across more than three decades, Bargar's work has fundamentally shaped how surgeons think about precision, reproducibility, and technology-assisted outcomes in orthopedic surgery.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2Primary and Revision Total Hip Replacement Using the Robodoc?? System421 citations · 1998
- 3An image-directed robotic system for precise orthopaedic surgery354 citations · 1994
- 4Development of a Surgical Robot for Cementless Total Hip Arthroplasty347 citations · 1992
- 5Robots in Orthopaedic Surgery150 citations · 2007
- 6An integrated system for cementless hip replacement98 citations · 1995
- 7
- 8A Perspective on Robotic Assistance for Knee Arthroplasty79 citations · 2013
- 9A surgical robot for total hip replacement surgery68 citations · 2003
- 10Taming the bull: safety in a precise surgical robot45 citations · 1991