Biomedical engineering supports surgical planning and interventions

Fundamental changes were achieved with the introduction of minimally invasive surgery. In this context, innovations in microtechnology played a significant role in the deployment of new tools. Developments for further integration are still ongoing. Furthermore, decisive progress was made by the timely provision of individual patient data prior to surgery. These comprise imaging data, electrophysiological or functional recordings, and synthetic data gained by modeling and simulation of anatomical or physiological conditions. Aside from the technical aspects of supporting surgery, effective quality management and optimized workflow are essential for therapeutic success. The vision of autonomously operating robots has been dropped in favor of permanently conducted and supervised interventions with the support of intelligent tools for the surgeon. Recent advances in reconstruction and transplantation surgery by tissue engineering and molecular biology are only the beginning of new promising concepts.