Hip Resurfacing at Surface HippyPosted on by Patricia Walter
Hi Pat,
Computerized navigation has been around for a long time, in
total hips, total knees, and now hip resurfacing. A lot of
surgeons, including me, have tried it out and not seen an
advantage in all but very exceptional cases. Yet other
surgeons use it on every case.
This is what I think about computerized navigation: It is a
tool which can narrow the “bell-curve” of component
position, but the curve still has some
Hip Resurfacing at Surface HippyPosted on by Patricia Walter
Dear Pat,
There is some data indicating that navigation can improve
the accuracy of femoral component placement in hip
resurfacing. The real issue is “compared to what?” For an
inexperienced surgeon, navigation may help him avoid
component positioning problems that have been associated
with “the learning curve”. However, for an experienced
surgeon, who has an established mechanical alignment system
with a high success rate – it is difficult to demonstrate an
advantage to him with
Hip Resurfacing at Surface HippyPosted on by Patricia Walter
DEAR PAT
WHAT ABOUT NAVIGATION
Today navigation is still a tool that is not easy to use and
that needs a certain learning curve as resurfacing itself
also has.
So it is not a useful tool today for resurfacing beginners,
where it should be! It would be nice if it would be a help
at the start of the learning curve.
So can somebody with experience use it or should they use
it?
Hip Resurfacing at Surface HippyPosted on by Patricia Walter
Hi Pat,
Thanks for the
mail.
Using computer navigation in joint surgery is a double
edged weapon. While potentially it can reduce the number of
outliers, it can also cause tremendous deviations and
absurd placements which would never be done with
conventional jigs. I have seen many examples of this done
elsewhere and referred to me for revision surgery.
Generally the input to the computer is made by a technique
known as bone morphing where