Use of Virtual Surgical Planning and Virtual Dataset With Intraoperative Navigation to Guide Revision of Complex Facial Fractures: A Case Report

Abstract

The use of intraoperative navigation has become prevalent in multiple surgical fields, including neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, spine surgery, and head and neck surgery. In the past decade, its use also has become popular in oral and maxillofacial surgery. Previous studies have suggested the use of intraoperative navigation improves surgical precision and accuracy and decreases intraoperative risks and postsurgical morbidity. This report presents a case in which intraoperative navigation was used for revision and secondary reconstruction of multiple facial fractures. Preoperative virtual surgical planning allowed customization of osteotomies of multiple bony segments and virtual reduction of these segments to their anatomically correct position. Then, the newly reconstructed 3-dimensional virtual computed tomographic dataset was used as a template in the navigation system to guide the osteotomies and precisely reposition bony fragments during surgery. This report describes the workflow necessary to use this technology.