Abstract
Accurate implant placement is important to the success of joint replacement surgery. Three dimensional pre-operative planning optimizing the ability to define the anatomy and select the desired implant and its location. Linking this information into implant and patient specific instrumentation has been termed smart instrumentation. Single use instruments contain the patient's topographical boney anatomy and implant information. This same information can be placed within a bone model and a reusable instrument placed onto the bone model can be adjusted to capture the information originally in the planning software. This instrument can then be placed into the surgical site, registered to the bone surfaces and used to modify the bone surfaces to replicate the surgical plan. These concepts, technology and devices have been developed and clinically tested in randomized clinical trials for shoulder arthroplasty.
