Stereotactic Micronavigation

Project Description

The SASSU („Spherical Assistant for Stereotactic Surgery“) robot
The SASSU („Spherical Assistant for Stereotactic Surgery“) robot

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a widespread degenerative neurological disorder of the central nervous system with a marked degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, pars compacta of the brain mesencephalon. Cardinal symptoms for PD are tremor, a reduction and slowness of movements, akinesia, and rigidity. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) presents an effective treatment to reduce or reverse these symptoms. Also for other cerebral disorders such as dystonia, DBS by the means of implanted electrodes presents an accepted technique for treatment. Target areas for electrical high frequency stimulation (HFS) are the thalamus, internal globus pallidus (GPi) the subthalamic nucleus (STN). Stereotactic neurosurgery is used to target the GPi and STN area in the human brain.

Stereotactic interventions are in daily clinical application since the late 1950s. More recently, robots have been introduced to the operation theater. Their main advantage in comparison with manual interventions is the higher accuracy. This feature is of utmost importance for DBS electrode implantation.

The aim of our research is to develop a robotic system for stereotactic neurosurgery. The system is required to provide:

  • High accuracy
  • Mobility
  • Intuitive handling
  • Safety features

The Motor Assisted Robotic Stereotaxy system – MARS – is designed to fulfill the above mentioned requirements. It was developed in close colaboration with the neurosurgery department of the University Clinics Schleswig-Holstein and our industrial partners inomed Medizintechnik GmbH and IBG Technology GmbH.
Please have a look at recent publications in this field and feel free to contact us if you need further information or wish to discuss potential applications.

The MARS ("Motor Assisted Robotic Stereotaxy") system
The MARS ("Motor Assisted Robotic Stereotaxy") system

Publications

2012

Max Heinig, Ulrich G. Hofmann, and Alexander Schlaefer,
Calibration of the Motor Assisted Robotic Stereotaxy System: MARS, International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery , vol. accepted for publication, 2012.
Max Heinig,
Design and Evaluation of the Motor Assisted Robotic Stereotaxy System MARS, 2012.

2011

Max Heinig, Olaf Christ, Volker Tronnier, Ulrich G. Hofmann, Alexander Schlaefer, and Achim Schweikard,
Electromagnetic noise measurement of the Motor Assisted Robotic Stereotaxy System (MARS), Yang, Guang-Zhong and Darzi, Ara, Eds. 2011. pp. 63-64.
Max Heinig, Maria Fernanda Govela, Fernando Gasca, Christian Dold, Ulrich G. Hofmann, Volker Tronnier, Alexander Schlaefer, and Achim Schweikard,
MARS - Motor Assisted Robotic Stereotaxy System, Cancun, Mexico , 2011. pp. 334-337.
ISBN:978-1-4244-4140-2

2010

Max Heinig, Alexander Schlaefer, and Achim Schweikard,
3D localization of ferromagnetic probes for small animal neurosurgery, 2010. pp. 2321-2324.
DOI:10.1109/iembs.2010.5627435
ISBN:978-1-4244-4123-5
File: iembs.2010.5627435
Markus Finke, Birgit Stender, Ralf Bruder, Alexander Schlaefer, and Achim Schweikard,
An experimental comparison of control devices for automatic movements of a surgical microscope, Geneva, Switzerland , 2010. pp. 311-312.
Markus Finke, and Achim Schweikard,
Motorization of a Surgical Microscope for intra-operative navigation and intuitive control, International Journal of Medical Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery , vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 269-280, 2010.
DOI:10.1002/rcs.314
File: rcs.314

2009

Lukas Ramrath, Simon Vogt, Winnie Jensen, Ulrich G. Hofmann, and Achim Schweikard,
Computer and robot-assisted stereotaxy for high-precision small animal brain exploration, Biological Psychiatry , vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 8-13, 2009.
DOI:10.1515/BMT.2009.002
File: BMT.2009.002

2008

Lukas Ramrath, J. Levering, Matthias Conrad, A. Thuemen, H. Fuellgraf, and Andreas Moser,
Mathematical Identification of a Neuronal Network Consisting of GABA and DA in Striatal Slices of the Rat Brain, Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine , 2008.
Lukas Ramrath, Ulrich G. Hofmann, Matteo C. M. Bonsanto, Volker Tronnier, S. Loeffler, Andreas Moser, and Achim Schweikard,
Robotic Framework for Small Animal Stereotaxy, Geneva , 2008.
S. Loeffler, Lukas Ramrath, Ulrich G. Hofmann, Achim Schweikard, and Andreas Moser,
Robot Assisted Stereotaxic Targeting for STN-DBS in the Rat Brain., Magdeburg , 2008.
DOI:10.1055/s-2008-1072910
File: s-2008-1072910
Lukas Ramrath, Ulrich G. Hofmann, and Achim Schweikard,
A Robotic Assistant for Stereotactic Neurosurgery on Small Animals, International Journal of Medical Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery , vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 295-303, 2008.
DOI:10.1002/rcs.218
File: rcs.218
Markus Finke, Ralf Bruder, and Achim Schweikard,
Kinematics of a Robotized Operation Microscope, Orlanda, Florida, USA , 2008. pp. 1638-1643.
Markus Finke, Ralf Bruder, and Achim Schweikard,
Intraoperative Fernsteuerung eines Operationsmikroskopes, Bartz, Dirk and Bohn, S. and Hoffmann, J., Eds. Leipzig, Deutschland; Leipzig, Germany , 2008. pp. 31-34.
Lukas Ramrath,
Design of a Surgical Robot and Brain Exploration Framework for Small Animal Stereotaxy, 2008.
Markus Finke, and Achim Schweikard,
3D Simulation of a motorized operation microscope, Venice, Italy: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2008. pp. 258-369.

2007

Lukas Ramrath, Gereon Hüttmann, Ulrich G. Hofmann, Matteo C. M. Bonsanto, Volker Tronnier, Andreas Moser, and Achim Schweikard,
Entwicklung eines robotergestützten Stereotaxieassistenten für die Kleintierhirnforschung, FOCUS MUL , vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 229-231, 2007.
Lukas Ramrath, Achim Schweikard, and Ulrich G. Hofmann,
Spherical Assistant for Stereotactic Surgery, San Diego, CA, USA , 2007.