ORTHO-ONCOLOGY (KL WEBER, SECTION EDITOR) Use of Computer Navigation in Orthopedic Oncology

The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract The use of computer navigation was first described in the surgical resection of pelvic tumors in 2004. It was developed to improve surgical accuracy with the goal of achieving clear resection margins and better oncologic results. During the past few years, there has been tremendous advancement of computer-assisted tumor sur-gery (CATS) in the field of orthopedic oncology. Currently, CATS with image fusion offers preoperative three-dimen-sional surgical planning and allows surgeons to reproduce the intended bone resections in musculoskeletal tumors. The technique is reported to be useful in technically demanding resections, such as in pelvic and sacral tumors; joint-preserving intercalated and multiplanar tumor resec-tion; and complex reconstruction with custom computer-aided design prostheses or allografts. This article provides an up-to-date review of the recent developments and key features in CATS, its current status in clinical practice, and future directions in its development