Does the use of intraoperative CT scan improve outcomes in Orthopaedic surgery? A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Intraoperative 3D imaging is a valuable tool to visualise complex anatomical structures and position implants optimally. This is an emerging technology and there is a paucity in literature of articles describing the same. Objectives This systematic review aims to compare the outcome of surgeries done under 3D imaging to those done under 2D fluoroscopy by analysing the evidence in literature. Methods A systematic review will be conducted adhering to the PRISMA guidelines. Electronic databases of PubMed, Embase and Scopus will be searched with a pre-defined search string. A manual search will also be conducted on the references of the included articles. Original research articles published in English that directly compare the outcomes of intraoperative 3D imaging with fluoroscopy will be included. Review articles, conference abstracts and animal studies will be excluded. Outcome measures will be extracted from the selected studies and analysed with the help of appropriate software.