[A new parallel drill guide for navigating femoral neck screw placement. Development and evaluation]

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic Surgery
• Medical Device Technology
• Surgical Navigation

Background:

• Trauma navigation systems traditionally use simple mechanical instruments.
• Complex tools like parallel drill guides (PDG) are rarely integrated into navigation.
• This study evaluated integrating a PDG for femoral neck fracture treatment into a navigation module.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility and benefits of integrating a complex mechanical tool (PDG) with fluoroscopic navigation.
• To evaluate the combined advantages of a commonly used mechanical instrument and navigation technology.
• To determine the safety and accuracy of navigated PDG for minimally invasive surgery.

Main Methods:

• A conventional parallel drill guide (PDG) was adapted with a reflective marker array for navigation.
• Custom software was developed for visualizing the navigated PDG.
• The navigated PDG technique was compared to conventional methods using bone models and cadavers.

Main Results:

• The navigated PDG was successfully integrated with the fluoroscopic navigation system without failures.
• Operative time increased by 30% with navigation compared to conventional techniques.
• Radiation exposure time was reduced by over 60% in the navigated group.

Conclusions:

• The navigated PDG allows for safe and accurate parallel screw placement through continuous visualization of virtual trajectories.
• Integrating complex mechanical instrumentation with navigation is a promising approach for trauma surgery.
• This technology offers an attractive advancement for hardware placement in multiple trauma applications.