Smith & Nephew's Play in Image-Guided Surgery

Executive Summary

Quietly over the past several years, spinal implant leader Sofamor Danek (acquired by Medtronic Inc. ) has built a leadership position in image-guided surgery (IGS). The relevance to Sofamor Danek's core spinal business is clear: through enhanced visualization and navigation, spinal surgeons can perform complex cases that were once thought impossible and do more routine surgeries more quickly and easily. Now, Medtronic Sofamor Danek and Smith & Nephew PLC are teaming up to see if the benefits of IGS can extend to more traditional orthopedic segments.