Ex vivo accuracy evaluation for robot assisted laser bone ablation.
BACKGROUND
Cutting bony tissue using short-pulsed laser ablation enables contact-free processing in arbitrary shapes and with considerably smaller incision widths compared with mechanical tools. This precise method necessitates assistance by robotic surgery.


METHODS
Using a prototype system for robot assisted laser bone ablation, the complete workflow was evaluated. Planning of cutting incisions was performed based on CT datasets of an ex vivo bone of a pig. After registration the preplanned cutting was executed autonomously by the robot assisted laser ablation system.


RESULTS
Evaluation of post-operative measurements revealed an overall positioning accuracy of less than 0.5 mm.


CONCLUSIONS
Robot assisted laser bone ablation has the potential to revolutionize surgery, especially in those interventions where the accuracy achievable manually is not sufficient.
Institute for Process Control and Robotics (IPR), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany. jessica.burgner@vanderbilt.edu
J
J
Burgner
M
M
Müller
J
J
Raczkowsky
H
H
Wörn
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D053685:Laser Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D010027:Osteotomy / Q000379:methods*; D012371:Robotics / Q000379:methods*; D025321:Surgery, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D013552:Swine