A Display System for Surgical Navigation in ORL Surgery

Minimally invasive surgery, developed during the last 15 years becomes a major field of surgical intervention. The patient benefits from little damage around the focus of surgery. Special skills of the surgeon are needed to work in narrow body cavities with little space for the endoscope and surgical tools. The surgeon’s navigation during surgery can be supported by modern visualisation techniques based on 3D medical image data. A tool for intra-operative navigation was developed providing three orthogonal sections through the image volume, a 3D display of surgical tools relative to sensitive anatomical structures, a virtual endoscopic image together with the video image through the endoscope. The user interface has a simple layout for easy handling to meet the needs in the surgical theatre.