Ultra minimally invasive orthopedic

Fast-track procedures are common in general surgery today. In our European neighbour countries and in the USA, one-day-surgery for knee and hip replacement is gaining popularity. However, it is of great importance that a detailed concept for prehabilitation with a sufficient training program and targeted instructions regarding behavioral measures are established to allow a safe outpatient procedure. Where fast-track programs are established, one-day surgery with minimally invasive operative procedures for hip and knee arthroplasty is the consequent next step...

Selective proximal recession of the medial gastrocnemius head has clear advantages over other approaches and can be performed as a single or combined open procedure for many indications. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a new technique based on ultrasound-guided ultraminimally invasive proximal gastrocnemius recession. We performed a pilot study with 16 cadavers to ensure that the technique was effective and safe; we then prospectively performed gastrocnemius recession in 12 patients (23 cases) with gastrocnemius contracture associated with other indications...

Although lasers are nowadays widely accepted as a popular scalpel of minimally invasive surgery (MIS), one of the most common orthopedic surgeries-the replacement of the knee joint-is still performed using an ordinary oscillating saw. Since ultra-short laser pulses are usually considered to be inefficient regardless of their high precision, the newest development of femtosecond laser systems has not yet been clinically applied to any mass ablation situation. However, thin disk Yb:KYW lasers meanwhile provide sufficient output power to ablate bone tissue within a reasonable time frame...