Perceive 3D: Augmented Reality Software Kicks Off a New Phase in Knee Surgery and Rehabilitation

Knees are a remarkable piece of evolutionary engineering, and can bend and extend as well as exhibit a degree of rotation even if they are very fragile. Every year, more than 700,000 anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and 2.6 million total knee arthroplasty (TKA) surgeries are performed worldwide. An EU-funded project—Perceive 3D (www.perceive3d.com)—has developed revolutionary software to put just the right amount of movement back into injured knees. Providing motivation for the set-up of the project, there is an average dissatisfaction rate of more than 20–25%, of which 10–15% require revision surgery. “For the first time, surgeons will use augmented reality [AR] as a support tool to execute complex surgical procedures. The project developed and validated two software applications in post-mortem subjects based on the in.nav technology for knee surgery,” outlines Rui Melo, chief technical officer of Perceive3D, project coordinator of the Portugal-based company.