Image-Guided ENT Surgery

What is Image Guided Technology for Sinus Surgery?

It is a virtual three-dimensional mapping system that combines CT scans of the patient's anatomy and real-time information about the exact position of surgical instruments using infrared signals.
It helps surgeons navigate their surgical instruments through complex sinus passages and provides surgical relief more precisely, helping to minimize damaging surrounding healthy anatomy.
Image Guided Surgery is a rapidly expanding area of medical technology for ENT.

How Does Navigation Work?

Before surgery, the patient undergoes a series of CT scans that reveal the soft tissue and bony structures in and around the sinuses.
With these scans, a computer builds a 3-D model of the patient's sinus anatomy. The surgeon uses this model to plan the surgical procedure and define the anatomical points that will be used in patient registration.
In the operating room, the surgeon uses Smart instruments to match the points on the 3-D model to the patient's anatomy. The system's software creates a digital map of the patient's face complete with contours that the surgeon uses to track the movement of the instruments in relation to the patient's anatomy in real time.
Specific surgical instruments equipped with active LEDs have been designed for ENT procedures. These wireless Smart instruments give the surgeon the ability to navigate freely without wires, while giving the surgeon complete control from the sterile field due to the remote control features on each hand piece.
The wireless Smart instrumentation and an endoscope, a thin fiber-optic tube connected to video camera, are inserted into the patient's sinuses.
During surgery, monitors display the 3-D model of the patient's sinus anatomy, a digital map of the patient's face, and the live endoscopic view of the patient's sinus anatomy.
The camera tracks the movement of the wireless Smart instruments and displays real-time images of the surgical instruments within the 3-D model and on the digital map of the patient's face. The computer mathematically compensates for any patient movement. Thus, the surgeon can pinpoint the location of the surgical instruments and patient's anatomy at all times.

What are the Potential Benefits of Navigation?

The surgeon can view surgical instruments in relation to delicate anatomy, such as the optic nerves, blood vessels and brain tissue that lie just beyond the view of the endoscope. The ability to work precisely in this environment helps reduce the risk of numerous complications. It may also lead to improved patient outcomes.
Image-Guidance may help increase the surgeon's confidence in difficult cases, especially during revision surgery where a patient's anatomy has been changed by a previous operation.

Who has the Potential to Benefit from Navigation?

The American Academy of Otolaryngology endorses the use of image-guided surgery for Endoscopic Sinus Surgery, Skull Based Surgery, Resection of Tumors and other Lesions and Biopsies of tumor tissue.

How can an individual learn more about the Stryker Navigation System?

Individuals who would like to learn more about the Stryker Navigation System or other Stryker products, can go online to www.stryker.com/navigation.