Computer and robot assisted tele-neurosurgery

Abstract

A computer and robot assisted telesurgical system for stereotactic neurosurgery is presented in this paper. Using the user friendly interface for surgical planning, the surgeons can make the surgical planning on the model reconstructed in the computer, and marker registration is used to create the mapping between the patient's head and the 3D-brain model. When appropriate entrance position on the skull and entrance trajectory are determined through the surgical planning, they are exported to remote physical medical robotic system, via the Internet, for real-world execution. Remote robotic system is not only used as a navigational tool to direct the surgery planning, but also used as an instrument platform to assist surgeons to accomplish the operation. This computer and robot assisted tele-neurosurgery system has been successfully used in clinical application.