Navigation of bone alignment osteotomies of the tibia.

This article describes a new bone segment navigation device for application in orthopaedic surgery. It allows for exact and CT-free alignment of bone segments according to a preset plan. The system guides the user through the initialisation process with only minor interaction. Once the bone segments are registered, an intuitive graphical model visualizes current spatial position relative to a desired (initial or planned) position. Advantages of the system are the usability without CT data and a very simple user interface. We describe the system, its components and the method of operation. Furthermore, an initial experiment to measure the overall repositioning accuracy during an experimental intervention is described, which was performed to access biomechanical information for the clinical analysis of osseo-integration processes is presented. Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.