Computer assisted navigated cup placement in hip arthroplasty - Application study in clinical routine.

Aim: This study serves to examine the feasibility of a GAS system in clinical, routine use in the field of total hip replacement. Method: Within a prospective study 70 total hip replacements were performed by one surgeon (KB) between March and November, 1999 using a CAS system for preoperative planning and intraoperative cup placement. Results: The average operating time was 70 min. This means an average increase in total time of operation about 15-20 min. The average blood loss was 630 ml. No additional specific complications due to the use of the system were seen. There was no additional trauma created by percutaneous pointing at the spina or fixing a dynamic reference base (DRB) at the pelvis. Conclusion: The active application of this CAS system in clinical routine use showed very good results in feasibility and can be considered as reliable. The navigated cup placement shows the potential of improving the results in cup placement, thus improving the outcome of hip arthroplasty.