(NIST:Gaithersburg, Maryland) -- Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology are developing state-of-the-art measuring techniques, similar to those used in making aerospace components fit together precisely, that soon could improve success rates for hip replacement surgery. At the request of a group of prominent orthopaedic surgeons and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the NIST researchers are working to improve calibrations and operating room testing of the computer-assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) tracking instruments surgeons use to plan the delicate, highly complex operation. To be completely successful, CAOS hip replacement surgery must take into account tiny human skeletal differences. Imprecise measurements, which could result from conditions seemingly unrelated to the surgery, such as operation room noise or temperature, can lead to poor positioning of implants, leaving some patients with discomfort during walking and, in rarer cases, a need to redo the operation.

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