Computer assisted orthopaedic and trauma surgery. State of the art and future perspectives.

In recent years computer technologies have become more and more integrated in surgical procedures. The potential advantages of computer assisted surgery (CAS) are: increase of accuracy of surgical interventions, less invasive operations, better planning and simulation and reduction of radiation exposure for both patient and surgeon. After introduction of CAS in neurosurgery, the clinical applications of this technique expanded also into trauma and orthopaedic surgery. The first application of this new technique in orthopaedic and trauma surgery was for placement of lumbar pedicle screws. After its introduction into spine surgery, CAS was applied in other fields of orthopaedic surgery like hip, knee and skeletal trauma surgery. In this article the technical background and the various clinical applications and future perspectives of computer assisted orthopaedic and trauma surgery are outlined.