Image guidance in spinal surgery.

Image guidance is a rapidly developing surgical technology that allows intraoperative navigation of surgical instruments relative to imaging studies. This technology has the potential to increase the safety, accuracy, and efficiency of certain procedures in spinal surgery. Currently the procedures most applicable to the use of image guidance techniques include the placement of spinal implants, minimal access spinal surgery techniques, and complex osteotomies and spinal arthroplasty. Several types of image guidance systems are currently available, each with certain advantages and disadvantages that must be understood by the operating surgeon. In the future, it is likely that the use of image guidance technology will increase in the field of spinal surgery as image guidance systems become more efficient and less expensive.