Preoperative-Image Guided Neurosurgical Navigation Procedures with Electromagnetic Tracking: An Effective Pipeline and A Cadaver Study

Abstract

Image Guidance plays a major role in today's advance neural surgeries. Our Aim was to design an efficient navigation system based on preoperative images which serves as the diagnostic technology for minimally invasive surgeries. We present a single-institution cadaver study with an effective and simple image guidance pipeline working with a robotic system. The navigation system consisted of a portable laptop with the navigation software, an electromagnetic tracking system (EM Tracker, a Mid-Range Transmitter, a 6-DOF Sensor-Model and a Stylus) both connected via Plus Server Launcher. The key steps involved Pivot Calibration, Model Registration, Navigation. The experiment was conducted on a cadaver and the target registration error was measured to be 1.38 mm. Eventually, we discuss the future developments of image-guided procedure for a skull-mounted neurological robot which requires a great deal of accurate tracking. We have demonstrated sufficient accuracy for Neuro-Navigation system to be optimally used for surgical procedures.