Why Navigation was doomed to fail in 2009? And why Robotics rock the house in 2019! (Philip Winnock de Grave, MD - LinkedIn)
Some people argue robotics are industry's next commercial move after the navigation hype 10 years ago. Indeed, the scene looks quite comparable... but actually the setting changed considerably.
We have to understand the time period navigation made it's launch. In the 2000's, many myths and dogma's were out there. At conferences, the "how to balance the TKA discussion was leading the dance. Are you a ligament balancer or a bony referencer? Do you release or not? And, one those things that was never questioned was... the targeted alignment. The number one, out-of-discussion dogma: the perpendicular tibial cut: "you shall always cut your tibia straight" (=mechanical alignment). Performed a 90.0° tibial cut? Bull's eye, that knee must perform perfect. Another dogma. Whatever the patient's native HKA alignment was: "you shall end up with a straight leg". The straighter the better. Unfortunately... a misleading target for the -poor- navigation guys.
Another feature about navigation, it's time-consuming. Putting on the trackers, registration ...
