Comparison of optical and electromagnetic tracking for navigated lateral skull base surgery. Issue 2 (10th May 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kral, Florian; Puschban, Elisabeth J.; Riechelmann, Herbert; Freysinger, Wolfgang
• Is Part Of: International journal of medical robotics and computer assisted surgery. Volume 9:Issue 2(2013)
• Page Start: 247
• Page End: 252
• Publication Date: 2013-05-10
• Subjects: Robotics in medicine -- Periodicals; Surgery -- Technological innovations -- Periodicals; Imaging systems in medicine -- Periodicals; 617.90285
• DOI: 10.1002/rcs.1502
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1478-5951

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="rcs1502-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Background</title> <p>Navigation with optical tracking sometimes makes it difficult to establish a line‐of‐sight in cluttered operating theatres. On the other hand, the accuracy of electromagnetic tracking is influenced by ferromagnetic surgical equipment. We compared electromagnetic with optical tracking under controlled conditions for the lateral skull base.</p> </sec> <sec id="rcs1502-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>Six anatomical specimens were dissected to measure the target registration error (TRE) in and around the petrous bone in a wet laboratory to simulate an intraoperative setting. Specimens were registered with passive optical and electromagnetic tracking.</p> </sec> <sec id="rcs1502-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>Overall accuracy was better using optical tracking than electromagnetic tracking (0.22 mm; 0.07–0.48 vs 0.99 mm; 0.56–1.27 mm; median, lower and upper quartiles, respectively; <italic>p <</italic> 0.001).</p> </sec> <sec id="rcs1502-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusion</title> <p>The accuracy of optical tracking was near the resolution of the camera system, whereas the accuracy of electromagnetic tracking was lower. Only optical tracking allows for an application accuracy of considerably less than 1 mm in high‐resolution datasets. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.</p> </sec> </abstract>