Potential use of robots in endoscopic neurosurgery.

A 6-axis stereotactic robot has been designed and linked to a stereotactic frame for routine use. Robot software allows the positioning of a probe holder in order to reach a given target. A calibration step enables the robot to compute the position of the x-ray beam and correct its final position to avoid parallax errors. The co-ordinates of the target are presently taken from anteroposterior and lateral X-rays using a digitizing table. Connection with a digitized angiography system is in progress and will allow direct sampling of numerical data from the x-ray data. Further steps will include connections with a 3D-reconstructed image from MRI and CAT as well as with a resident computerized atlas. Present experience after 14 months of daily practice represents 140 stereotactic procedures which can be extended to any special use, including endoscopic approaches.