Combining image-guided technology with standard fluoroscopy, the FluoroNav Virtual Fluoroscopy System brings virtual reality to the operating room. This state-of-the-art navigational surgical system makes surgeries safer for patients and surgical teams.

Traditional fluoroscopy uses a C-arm or fluoroscope to take x-rays of a patient to be viewed on a video monitor. To view different angles or positions, the C-arm had to be moved and another x-ray had to be taken. Each new picture exposes the patient and the surgical team to more radiation.

By combining the traditional fluoroscope with a surgical computer, the FluoroNav system eliminates the need for multiple x-rays, limiting radiation exposure to the patient and the surgical team. As with traditional fluoroscopy, the FluoroNav system uses a C-arm to take x-rays of the patient's spine. However, the pictures are taken while the patient is in the operating room before navigation of the spine begins. The pictures are stored in a surgical computer.

Using infrared technology, the computer tracks surgical instruments while the surgeon is navigating the spine, superimposing their location onto the stored pictures displayed on the computer screen. As the instrument moves, the screen displays each new position.

The FluoroNav system eliminates the need for taking additional x-rays, leading to less radiation exposure and better operating room safety conditions. Safety also is increased by the systems ability to show multiple views of an instrument's location simultaneously. An important advance in image-guided surgery, the system meets the challenges of new minimally invasive procedures by providing critical and precise information to the surgical team.