Navigation in Minimally Invasive Total Knee Arthroplasty and Total Hip Arthroplasty

Conventional techniques in knee and hip arthroplasty lack sensitive tools for intraoperative measurements and real time feedback. Technical errors and outliers are not uncommon. The limited access in less and minimally invasive techniques for arthroplasty can also be another source of errors, especially for the inexperienced surgeon. The use of navigation may improve visualization and accuracy in less invasive surgical techniques and may provide useful intraoperative information. At present, navigation is not a standard technique, although total knee arthroplasty is the most common surgical procedure performed with navigation assistance. The clinical application of computer-assisted orthopaedic surgery in total hip arthroplasty is less common and is currently confined to a few surgeons experienced in such techniques. In this article, we review the literature and present our experience in this field. (C) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.