Image-guided neurosurgery with 3-dimensional multimodal imaging data on a stereoscopic monitor.

Background: In the past 2 decades, intraoperative navigation technology has changed preoperative and intraoperative strategies and methodology tremendously.

Objective: To report our first experiences with a stereoscopic navigation system based on multimodality-derived, patient-specific 3-dimensional (3-D) information displayed on a stereoscopic monitor and controlled by a virtual user interface.

Methods: For the planning of each case, a 3-D multimodality model was created on the Dextroscope.

The DextroBeam: a stereoscopic presentation system for volumetric medical data.

This paper describes an interaction system called the DextroBeam designed for manipulating objects in 3D space while looking at a 3D stereoscopic display located in front of the user. Three-dimensional interaction is two-handed and is achieved by means of a stylus with a single button or switch. We have been planning several neurosurgical cases with the DextroBeam, including the separation of Nepalese Siamese twins in April 2001, and have conducted a course on surgery of the Temporal Bone (as part of the 9th ASEAN ORL Head and Neck Congress in Singapore, March 2001).