title: Development of preoperative planning software for transforaminal endoscopic surgery and the guidance for clinical applications.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Preoperative planning is of great importance for transforaminal endoscopic techniques applied in percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy. In this study, a modular preoperative planning software for transforaminal endoscopic surgery was developed and demonstrated.
  
  
  METHODS
  The path searching method is based on collision detection, and the oriented bounding box was constructed for the anatomical models. Then, image reformatting algorithms were developed for multiplanar reconstruction which provides detailed anatomical information surrounding the virtual planned path. Finally, multithread technique was implemented to realize the steady-state condition of the software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A preoperative planning software for transforaminal endoscopic surgery (TE-Guider) was developed; seven cases of patients with symptomatic lumbar disc herniations were planned preoperatively using TE-Guider. The distances to the midlines and the direction of the optimal paths were exported, and each result was in line with the empirical value.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  TE-Guider provides an efficient and cost-effective way to search the ideal path and entry point for the puncture. However, more clinical cases will be conducted to demonstrate its feasibility and reliability.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Manufacturing and Life Quality Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. xiaojunchen@163.com.|School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Room A-805, Dongchuan Road 800, Minhang District, Shanghai, 200240, China. xiaojunchen@163.com.
authors.forename: Xiaojun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Manufacturing and Life Quality Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Constantinus
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Politis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017587:Diskectomy, Percutaneous / Q000379:methods*; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D007405:Intervertebral Disc Displacement / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057234:Preoperative Period; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012984:Software; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Image reformatting; Preoperative planning; Transforaminal endoscopic surgery