Video Camera Based Navigation of a Laser Beam for Micro Surgery Bone Ablation at the Skull Base — Setup and Initial Experiments

The protection of soft tissue structures behind the ablated bone in skull base surgery is mandatory. As the destruction of the membrane lining the inner ear can lead to a damage of organ functions (e.g. deafness or vertigo) a precise bone tissue removal by a laser ablation setup is investigated. For the detection of the boundary between soft tissue and bone the ablation area and rate are monitored by a video camera. Through this the laser is guided across the ablation area by image processing technologies. An aim of this project is a defined, navigated-controlled and laser based bone removal for the future buildup of a robot based surgical laser instrument. This publication describes the setup of our video controlled laser ablation system, initial experiments and results.