Navigation-guided resection of temporomandibular joint ankylosis promotes safety in skull base surgery.
OBJECTIVE
Computer-assisted surgery (CAS) has not been a routine part of craniomaxillofacial surgery to date. This report investigates the use of CAS to promote the safe removal of ankylosed temporomandibular joint bone in the skull base.


METHODS
Out of a total pool of experience with 102 navigation-guided CAS procedures between January 1998 and December 2000, we report on 2 cases of navigation-aided resection of severe ankylosis of the mandibular condyle with a predetermined safety margin of the resection toward the middle cranial fossa, and identification of the foramen ovale.


RESULTS
The use of CAS with navigation resulted in the promotion of safe surgical excision of the ankylosed skull base tissue.


CONCLUSIONS
We regard navigation-aided resection of an ankylosis fo the mandibular condyle as a valuable additional technique in this potentially complicated procedure.
Schmelzeisen
Rainer
R
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Freiburg, Skull Base Center, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. Schmelz@zmk2.ukl.uni-freiburg.de
Gellrich
Nils-Claudius
NC
Schramm
Alexander
A
Schön
Ralf
R
Otten
Jörg-Elard
JE
D000328:Adult; D000844:Ankylosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D001178:Arthroplasty / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D019291:Skull Base / Q000601:surgery*; D025321:Surgery, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D013705:Temporomandibular Joint Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D036542:Tomography, Spiral Computed / Q000295:instrumentation