Guidelines for navigation-assisted spine surgery

Abstract

Spinal surgery is a technically demanding and challenging procedure because of the complicated anatomical structures of the spine and its proximity to several important tissues. Surgical landmarks and fluoroscopy have been used for pedicle screw insertion but are found to produce inaccuracies in placement. Improving the safety and accuracy of spinal surgery has increasingly become a clinical concern. Computer-assisted navigation is an extension and application of precision medicine in orthopaedic surgery and has significantly improved the accuracy of spinal surgery. However, no clinical guidelines have been published for this relatively new and fast-growing technique, thus potentially limiting its adoption. In accordance with the consensus of consultant specialists, literature reviews, and our local experience, these guidelines include the basic concepts of the navigation system, workflow of navigation-assisted spinal surgery, some common pitfalls, and recommended solutions. This work helps to standardize navigation-assisted spinal surgery, improve its clinical efficiency and precision, and shorten the clinical learning curve.

Keywords

guidelines / spine surgery / computer-assisted navigation

References

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Acknowledgements

The guidelines were created and revised by multiple consultant specialists invited by International Society for Computer Assisted Orthopaedic Surgery. We are grateful for their support and contributions.

List of names of consultant specialists

Andrew O'Brien, Zhongqiang Chen, Ferdinando Rodriguez Y Baena, Zhongli Gao, Shuxun Hou, Lin Hong, Yongcheng Hu, James Yue, Baoguo Jiang, Jianyuan Jiang, Kamal Deep, Klaus Radermacher, Ming Li, Jianhua Lin, Bo Liu, Yajun Liu, Zhongjun Liu, Qing Zhang, Zhuojing Luo, Xun Ma, Masaki Takao, Patrick Meere, Guixing Qiu, Sean Molly, Huiyong Shen, Yueming Song, Tiansheng Sun, Huan Wang, Qun Xia, Huilin Yang, Guangzhong Yang, Maoqing Yang, Shigui Yan, Shudong Zhang, Yue Zhou

Compliance with ethic guidelines

Wei Tian, Bo Liu, Da He, Yajun Liu, Xiaoguang Han, Jingwei Zhao, Mingxing Fan, and International Society for Computer Assisted Orthopaedic Surgery declare that they have no financial conflicts of interest. There was no source of external funding for this study. This manuscript is a guideline article and does not involve a research protocol requiring approval by a relevant institutional review board or ethics committee.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2020 Higher Education Press