(ii) Computer assisted surgery in trauma and osteotomy

Computer assisted surgery (CAS) has been applied more often within the last years. Multiple aspects of CAS have been important in orthopaedic and trauma surgery such as pre-operative planning, intraoperative imaging and navigation. In total four different methods of navigation within CAS exist. While imageless navigation is used more regularly in osteotomy, 3D-based navigation is applied in trauma surgery more commonly.CAS uses infrared signals sent from markers attached to the patient and the instruments which are detected by a camera and processed by a connected computer.The aim of CAS is a visual support during complex surgical procedures leading to an improvement of the operational result. The enhancement of the visualization permits surgical procedures with low soft tissue impairment especially in crucial anatomical regions. Hence CAS together with minimal invasive procedures and an improvement of digital imaging has the option to optimize surgical procedures. However there exist limitations to the application of CAS in trauma care which have to be considered.