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S U P P L E M E N T T O O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | A U G U S T 2 0 1 4
M
ore and more partial knee
replacements are being per-
formed with the aid of naviga-
tion systems, which come in an
ever-increasing array of
options. There's computer-assisted navigation, robot-
ic-assisted surgical technology and systems that con-
vert scans into custom 3D cutting guides. "Image-
guided can mean so many things today," says Ronald
Anthony Navarro, MD, the regional coordinating
chief of orthopedic surgery at the Southern
California Permanente Medical Group in Pasadena.
S U R G I C A L N A V I G A T I O N
ABC's of Ortho
Navigation Systems
Is computer-assisted surgery for you?
Dan O'Connor | Editor-in-Chief
VIRTUAL REALITY Will your
surgeons use a computer, a hand-
held robot or a custom cutting
guide when they perform partial
knee replacement surgery?
"They all promise to
make the surgeon's tech-
nical job easier and to let
us become better sur-
geons."
These advances that
digitize the patient's
anatomy share one thing
in common. They give
the surgeon greater accu-
racy and precision in
placing the implant and
aligning the leg on the
mechanical axis than
ever before, certainly
better than relying on
vision and intuition.
"Software-guided knee
surgery has the potential
to not only streamline the
surgical process, but also
to improve the mechani-
cal alignment of the knee
and thereby optimize
patient outcomes," says
orthopedic surgeon John
A. Peters, MD, of Kaiser
