A Multimodality Navigation System for Endoscopic Fetal Surgery: A Phantom Case Study for Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia.

This article presents a multi-modality tracking and navigation system achieved by merging optical tracking and ultrasound imaging into a novel navigation software to help in surgical pre-planning and real-time target setting and guidance. Fetal surgeries require extensive experience in coordination of hand-eye-ultrasound-surgical equipment, knowledge, and precise assessment of relative anatomy. While there are navigation systems available for similar constrained working spaces in arthroscopic and cardiovascular procedures, fetal minimally invasive surgery does not yet have a dedicated navigation platform capable of supporting robotic instruments that can be adapted to the set of unique procedures.

A Robotic Flexible Drill and Its Navigation System for Total Hip Arthroplasty.

This paper presents a robotic flexible drill and its navigation system for total hip arthroplasty (THA). The new robotic system provides an unprecedented and unique capability to perform curved femoral milling under the guidance of a multimodality navigation system. The robotic system consists of three components.

Design of a flexible fetoscopy manipulation system for congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

Recent advancements in fetal surgery have proven that tracheal occlusion in fetuses with congenital diaphragmatic hernia is an effective way to prevent the occurrence of pulmonary hypoplasia. A novel flexible fetoscope with a parallel mechanism structure of a thumbstick to carry on the fetal tracheal balloon occlusion by the targeting and manipulation of the fetal endoscope at a high standard of quick response and dexterity is proposed in this paper. This design is compared with a commercial rigid fetoscope in terms of operation timing and reduced stress to the fetus at neck level.