The international journal of medical robotics + computer assisted surgery : MRCAS
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The insertion of distal locking screws is a difficult task in intra-medullary (IM) nailing operations of long bones and contributes a significant proportion to the overall operating time. The current technique to insert these screws uses numerous fluoroscopic images and depends on the skills and expertise of the surgeon. The Computer Assisted Orthopaedic Surgical System (CAOSS) was developed to assist orthopaedic surgeons in these operations. ⋯ This study shows that CAOSS in IM nailing is robust and reliable. Positional accuracy was shown to be within 0.3 mm and angular accuracy within 0.2 degrees with femoral IM nail. CAOSS was also shown to be very reliable and accurate at different angles of distal screws in fluoroscopic image space.