Development of a real-time image-guided surgery system for stereo-endoscopic sinus surgery

In a conventional surgical navigation system, surgeons recognize anatomical structures, lesions and hazardous areas based on the objective 2D representation of the pointer tip within reconstructed models obtained from axial, coronal and sagittal plane CT scans. We developed a superimposed image-guided surgery navigation system for endoscopic sinus surgery, in which operative field structures are depicted three-dimensionally and in real-time. The newly developed system allowed improved representation and visualization of the sinus-adjacent inner structures in 3D field of view, and more accurate localization of potentially hazardous areas. Furthermore, in the stereoscopically visualized surgical field, it became easy to recognize the target location and manipulation areas.