Sun et al. have invented a new stereotactic instrument[1], which is thought to bridge the differences between frameless and frame-based techniques. It consists of a stereotactic frame, which is attached to the skull in a manner comparable to classical stereotactic frames. Instead for guidance of a linear instrument, as for example in the case of a frame-based stereotactic biopsy, it is connecte...

BACKGROUND In stereotactic operations, intraoperative imaging is crucial in several stages of the procedure. The aim was to utilize the O-arm intraoperatively for (1) planning the trajectories of stereotactic instruments, (2) calculating the coordinates of the targets, (3) identification of normal intracranial structures, (4) verification of the trajectories of the stereotactic instruments, and...

PURPOSE To design a simple and reproducible method with minimum uncertainty for evaluating the stereotactic accuracy of Computed Tomography imaging and Magnetic Reso-nance Imaging and to compare the results. METHODS 3D phantom has been designed with 1 mm diameter targets in eight sectors for stereotactic MR imaging and CT imaging. The phantom was connected to Leksell stereotactic frame and th...

Radiotherapy (RT) is often employed in patients with acromegaly refractory to medical and/or surgical interventions in order to prevent tumour regrowth and normalize elevated GH and IGF-I levels. It achieves tumour control and hormone normalization up to 90% and 70% of patients at 10-15 years. Despite the excellent tumour control, conventional RT is associated with a potential risk of developin...

There has been a resurgence of interest in surgical treatment of Parkinson's disease in the past five years due to the large number of patients who have medically intractable symptoms and because significant improvements in neuroimaging and stereotactic techniques have made surgical procedures safer and more accurate. Stereotactic pallidotomy procedures allow neurosurgeons to destroy a portion ...

Overview: Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) is a distinct discipline that utilizes externally generated ionizing radiation in certain cases to inactivate or eradicate (a) defined target(s) in the head and spine without the need to make an incision. The target is defined by high-resolution stereotactic imaging. SRS typically is performed in a single session, using a rigidly attached stereotactic g...

Renal-cell carcinoma is considered to be a radioresistant tumour, but this notion might be wrong. If given in a few (even single) fractions, but at a high fraction dose, stereotactic body radiotherapy becomes increasingly important in the management of renal-cell carcinoma, both in primary settings and in treatment of oligometastatic disease. There is an established biological rationale for the...

Stereotactic radiosurgery is frequently used, either alone or together with whole-brain radiation therapy to treat brain metastases from solid tumors. Certain experts and radiation oncology groups have proposed replacing whole-brain radiation therapy with stereotactic radiosurgery alone for the management of brain metastases. Although randomized trials have favored adding whole-brain radiation ...

Stereotactic vacuum-assisted breast biopsy (VAB) has been used to evaluate microcalcifications or non-palpable breast lesions on mammography. Although stereotactic VAB is usually performed in a prone or upright position, an expensive prone table is necessary and vasovagal reactions often occur during the procedure. For these reasons, the lateral decubitus position can be applied for stereotacti...

BACKGROUND The microTargeting™ platform (MTP) stereotaxy system (FHC Inc., Bowdoin, Me., USA) was FDA approved in 2001 utilizing rapid-prototyping technology to create custom platforms for human stereotaxy procedures. It has also been called the STarFix (surgical targeting fixture) system since it is based on the concept of a patient- and procedure-specific surgical fixture. This is an alternat...