The cervical screw fixation has been used widely in the clinic setting due to the high fusion rate, immediate fixation of the surgical segment and good correction of the deformity. However, owing to the variation of anatomical structures and the narrow pedicle screws, it's rather difficult to implant the screws through traditional methods. The perforation rate of the screw is high, which can cause serious complications such as neurovascular injury. In recent years, rapid prototyping navigation templates have been reported in the appilication to assist cervical screw placement for improving the accuracy of screw placement. In this paper, we reviewed and summarized published literatures about navigation template assisted cervical screw implantation in the past 20 years, systematically introduced the methods of producing and using of navigation templates, the development of design concept and the status of application in cervical spine surgery. To date, relevant clinical and cadaveric studies confirm that the use of rapid prototyping navigation template assisted cervical screw placement in cervical surgery can reduce screw perforation rate, intraoperative ionizing radiation injury and operation time, which is worth applying in the clinical practice. However, specific clinical effects of different design types of navigation templates are not well summarized. As a result, more clinical and cadaveric studies comparing the accuracy and safety of navigation templates of different design types are needed to help clinicians select the appropriate navigation template for surgery.
Keywords: Cervical screw; Navigation template; Rapid prototyping; Review literature; Three-dimensional printing.
Copyright© 2018 by the China Journal of Orthopaedics and Traumatology Press.