ABSTRACT
Robotic systems may help efficiently execute complicated tasks that require a high degree of accuracy, and this, in large part, explains why robotics have garnered widespread use in a variety of neurosurgical applications, including intracranial biopsies, spinal instrumentation, and placement of intracranial leads. The use of robotics in neurosurgery confers many benefits, and inherent limitations, to both surgeons and their patients. In this narrative review, we provide a historical overview of robotics and its implementation across various surgical specialties, and discuss the various robotic systems that have been developed specifically for neurosurgical applications. We also discuss the relative advantages of robotic systems compared to traditional surgical techniques, particularly as it pertains to integration of image guidance with the ability of the robotic arm to reliably execute pre-planned tasks. As more neurosurgeons adopt the use of robotics in their practice, we postulate that further technological advancements will become available that will help achieve improved technical capabilities, user experience, and overall patient clinical outcomes.
Subject(s)
Neurosurgery , Robotics , Surgery, Computer-Assisted , Humans , Neurosurgeons , Neurosurgical ProceduresABSTRACT
The first complete simulation based on OpenSurgSim (OSS) is used as a case study for analyzing how the toolkit can accelerate the development of surgical simulations. The Burr Hole Trainer (BHT) is designed to train non-neurosurgeons to drill holes in the skull to relieve intracranial pressure, and the majority of its simulation functionality is provided by OSS. Based on code size, using OSS cut the development time in half, reduced the necessary size of the development team by two-thirds, and saved millions of US dollars.
Subject(s)
Computer-Assisted Instruction/methods , Decompressive Craniectomy/education , Educational Measurement/methods , High Fidelity Simulation Training/methods , Software , Surgery, Computer-Assisted/methods , Clinical Competence , Decompressive Craniectomy/methods , Humans , User-Computer InterfaceABSTRACT
This paper briefly discusses the history, benefits, and shortcomings of traditional audit field experiments to study market discrimination. Specifically it identifies template bias and experimenter bias as major concerns in the traditional audit method, and demonstrates through an empirical example that computerization of a resume or correspondence audit can efficiently increase sample size and greatly mitigate these concerns. Finally, it presents a useful meta-tool that future researchers can use to create their own resume audits.
ABSTRACT
In interactive, image-guided surgery, current physical space position in the operating room is displayed on various sets of medical images used for surgical navigation. We have developed a PC-based surgical guidance system (ORION) which synchronously displays surgical position on up to four image sets and updates them in real time. There are three essential components which must be developed for this system: (1) accurately tracked instruments; (2) accurate registration techniques to map physical space to image space; and (3) methods to display and update the image sets on a computer monitor. For each of these components, we have developed a set of dynamic link libraries in MS Visual C++ 6.0 supporting various hardware tools and software techniques. Surgical instruments are tracked in physical space using an active optical tracking system. Several of the different registration algorithms were developed with a library of robust math kernel functions, and the accuracy of all registration techniques was thoroughly investigated. Our display was developed using the Win32 API for windows management and tomographic visualization, a frame grabber for live video capture, and OpenGL for visualization of surface renderings. We have begun to use this current implementation of our system for several surgical procedures, including open and minimally invasive liver surgery.
