What is the role of CAS (computer-aided surgery) or ‘navigation’ in Joint Replacements? With the aid of some laser markers put on bones and instruments, a computer software can ‘guide’ the surgeon regarding the direction of bone cuts, and magnitude of soft-tissue releases. However, apart from a few complicated cases, with the most severe deformities, this computer ‘guidance’ has not been found to add to the accuracy of surgeons well-trained and experienced in Joint Replacements. On the other hand, it makes the surgery longer (thereby increasing the surgical morbidity and infection rate), and more expensive (the navigation system comes at a prohibitive price!). However, few orthopaedic surgeons find it more comforting to use technology, to be sure of their accuracy, and to convince patients that they are giving the best results, which may not be always the case. Journal Of Bone And Joint Surgery in November 2012 titled Computer-Navigated Versus Conventional Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Prospective Randomized Trial By Young-Hoo Kim, MD1; Jang-Won Park, MD1; Jun-Shik Kim, MD1 This RANDOMIZED study clearly shows NO DIFFERENCE in clinical results, alignment and survivorship (life) of knees that underwent computer navigated total knee replacement or conventional total knee replacement WITHOUT USING computer.Furthermore a META-ANALYSIS has been conducted by Tao Cheng, Xiao-YUN Pan, Xin Mao, Guo-You Zhang, Xian-Long Zhang and published in the knee journal in August 2012; which shows computer navigated total knee replacement does NOT lead to clinical results superior to conventional total knee replacement. Click the following link in google to read the above research paperthekneejournal/article/S0968-0160(11)00195-5/abstract
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 15:01:14 +0000
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