Minimally invasive approaches in orthopaedic surgery.

Performing orthopaedic interventions with reduced trauma to soft tissue is considered a way to shorten recovery time and improve surgical outcome. Based on an analysis of causes of invasiveness in orthopaedic surgery, associated fields of development are described that aim at the reduction of invasiveness. The causes in question are the need to have visual contact to the performed surgical action, to guide surgical instruments into the situs, and to introduce devices such as screws, plates, or endoprostheses for implantation.

Assessment of video tracking usability for training simulators.

Objective: A simulator was developed to mimic commercial CAS systems in implementing most tasks required to carry out a surgical operation. As tracking systems are generally expensive components, an alternative solution based on low-cost video-based tracking was used. Video tracking accuracy was assessed to determine whether or not this kind of approach was suitable for use in the training domain.