Computer-aided surgery meets predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine

Computer-aided surgery (CAS) is now nearly 30 years old. It has brought to surgery a variety of tools, techniques, and paradigm changes that have had an impact on how surgeries are planned, executed, and evaluated. In this review, we examine the predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine (PPPM) aspects of CAS. We present a brief history of CAS, summarize its the state of the art, and discuss current trends and future developments related to PPPM. Of the three Ps, we note that the most important impact of CAS is on Personalization, in all the steps of the surgical treatment: preoperative planning, intraoperative execution, and postoperative evaluation. Prediction in CAS is reflected in the preoperative evaluation of the various surgical options and in the evaluation of the possible surgical outcomes. Prevention in CAS is related to intraoperative execution, to help prevent possible surgical complications. We foresee that CAS will play an increasingly important role in PPPM in the coming years.