A NONINVASIVE PATIENT REGISTRATION AND REFERENCE SYSTEM FOR INTERACTIVE INTRAOPERATIVE LOCALIZATION IN INTRANASAL SINUS SURGERY

A basic problem common to all systems for computer assisted surgery (C AS) is patient referencing, or the transfer of preoperative image data to the intraoperative pathology. The authors describe a highly precis e CAS system with non-invasive referencing that can be used in ear, no se and throat (ENT) surgery of the paranasal sinuses. It is based on o ptical digitizing with several custom-made self-localizing surgical in struments. The accuracy of the system was tested in an experimental mo del using a plastic head. Measurements of repositioning the reference bow had a mean error of 0.81 mm+/-0.31 mm. The system was evaluated cl inically with 11 patients who received surgery for different pathologi es of the paranasal sinuses. These trials met with a high rate of succ ess and specific results are reported.