PICO

PICO – Paraendoscopic Intuitive Computer Assisted Operating System

Thematic Keywords

Medical Technology, Control, Assisting System

Abstract

For neuro-surgical interventions with endoscopic assistance a guiding system is developed which the surgeon can direct by movements of his surgical instruments. For this purpose, the ISW designs the control system that links the various components and generates the motions of the endoscope with a specific mechanism. So far it is common to use a microscope with neuro-surgical interventions, which requires large openings (Ø 8..10 cm). These can be considerably smaller (Ø 2..4 cm) when endoscopes are used for imaging the place of intervention. But conventional holding devices lock the endoscope into a position that makes the redirection during surgery very complicated.
Objective of the project PICO is to develop an automatic holding and tracking system for neuro-surgical endoscopes. It should permit the surgeon to change the orientation of the endoscope and thus his view of the operating field without having to put down his instruments.
In close international co-operation between engineers and medical scientists a concept was designed which consists of three components: The base support is mounted to the operating table and it carries the entire system. To this the coarse adjustment is fixed which directs the system manually during the preparation of the surgery. The automatic tracking during the operation is conducted by the control by means of the fine adjustment  which is mounted to the coarse adjustment.
At the ISW the control technology is developed that connects the various components of the system. This involves an optical tracker to record the movements of the surgical instrument. From the results the control computes the required motion commands in order to reposition the endoscope as the user wishes.

Additional Information

• Project Homepage

Contact

• Gruppe A.1: "Planning Systems and Engineering Methods"