Automated laser registration in image-guided surgery: evaluation of the correlation between laser scan resolution and navigation accuracy

• Published in: International journal of oral and maxillofacial surgery Vol. 33; no. 7; pp. 642 - 648
• Main Authors: Marmulla, R., Lüth, T., Mühling, J., Hassfeld, S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2004; Elsevier
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; cranio-maxillofacial surgery; Dentistry; Humans; image-guided surgery; Imaging, Three-Dimensional - methods; laser scan; Lasers; Medical sciences; Otorhinolaryngology. Stomatology; Prospective Studies; Reproducibility of Results; Skull Neoplasms - diagnosis; Skull Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; surface registration; Surgery, Computer-Assisted; surgical segment navigator; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; image-guided surgery; cranio-maxillofacial surgery; laser scan; surgical segment navigator; surface registration; Human; Image processing; Stomatology; Maxillofacial; Guidance; Accuracy; Surgery; Laser; Image evaluation
• ISSN: 0901-5027; 1399-0020
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijom.2004.01.005

Markerless patient registration based on the facial skin surface makes logistics prior to image-guided surgery much easier, as it is not necessary to place and measure registration markers. A laser scan registration of the surgical site takes the place of conventional marker-based registration. In a clinical study, the stability and accuracy of markerless patient registration was evaluated in 12 patients. Intraoral titanium markers served as targets for the infrared-pointer of the navigation system in order to check the accuracy of the markerless registration process. The correlation between laser scan resolution and navigation accuracy was checked using seven different laser scan resolutions (a cloud of 300,000 laser scan points down to 3750 laser scan points of the surgical site). The markerless patient registration was successful as long as high laser scan resolution was used (30,000 laser scan points and more): the titanium markers were detected with a mean deviation of 1.1±0.2 mm. Low resolution laser scans (6000 laser scan points of the surgical site and less) revealed inaccuracies up to 6 mm.