A surgical navigation system for oral and maxillofacial surgery and its application in the treatment of old zygomatic fractures

TLDR

Computer‑aided oral and maxillofacial surgery is increasingly popular, but traditional neurosurgery navigation systems are unsuitable due to complex preoperative planning. The study presents AccuNavi, a surgical navigation system that integrates 3D medical modelling, preoperative planning, and intraoperative tracking for oral and maxillofacial surgery. AccuNavi was built using C++ DLLs with VTK and ITK libraries, employing object‑oriented design to enable expandability, accessibility, and maintainability. In a case of an old zygomatic fracture, AccuNavi guided precise reduction, and postoperative 3D‑CT confirmed correct positioning, demonstrating the system’s feasibility and reliability. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract

Abstract Background Nowadays, there is a trend towards computer‐aided oral and maxillofacial surgery. However, due to complicated preoperative planning, traditional neurosurgery‐orientated navigation systems are not suitable and have to be adapted. Methods A surgical navigation system is presented for oral and maxillofacial surgery, named AccuNavi, which integrates 3D medical modelling, preoperative surgical planning and intraoperative tracking. Various algorithms were introduced, for each of which a set of dynamic link libraries (DLLs) were developed using C++, as well as the VTK and ITK, via object‐orientated programming methodology, allowing for expandability, accessibility and maintainability in our system. Results The advantage of AccuNavi is validated through clinical applications, especially in a case report about the planning and subsequent precise treatment of old zygomatic fractures. The postoperative 3D‐reconstructed CT image demonstrated that the fractured zygoma was fixed in the appropriate position and orientation. Conclusions The clinical application demonstrates tyhe feasibility and reliability of AccuNavi, and it can be extended to various areas in oral and maxillofacial surgery. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.