The role of navigation in knee surgery and evaluation of three-dimensional knee kinematics

Navigation systems improve the accuracy of surgical procedures. In the field of knee surgery, they are mainly used for navigated total knee replacement. Commercially available applications also include navigated anterior cruciate ligament replacement. The planning and drilling of the bone tunnels can be performed using navigation. Navigation systems also are excellent measurement tools, and navigation systems can potentially be used to analyze the preoperative and postoperative 3-dimensional knee kinematics and stability. Intraoperative analyses of stability, impingement, and range of motion can be directly compared with the preoperative analysis, which allows immediate modifications if necessary. Furthermore, this set-up also can be used for the evaluation of outcomes.