Configuration optimization and experimental accuracy evaluation of a bone-attached, parallel robot for skull surgery.

Purpose: Minimally invasive cochlear implantation is a novel surgical technique which requires highly accurate guidance of a drilling tool along a trajectory from the mastoid surface toward the basal turn of the cochlea. The authors propose a passive, reconfigurable, parallel robot which can be directly attached to bone anchors implanted in a patient's skull, avoiding the need for surgical tracking systems. Prior to clinical trials, methods are necessary to patient specifically optimize the configuration of the mechanism with respect to accuracy and stability.

Design and analysis of a head-mounted parallel kinematic device for skull surgery.

Purpose: Precision skull surgery requires specialized instrumentation to satisfy demanding requirements in cochlear array implantation, deep brain stimulation electrode placement, and related applications. A miniaturized reconfigurable parallel kinematic mechanism which can be directly mounted on a patient's skull was designed, built, and tested for precision skull surgery.

Methods: A Stewart-Gough platform is attached to a patient's skull so no optical tracking affecting the overall accuracy in keyhole surgery is required.