Robot-assisted three-dimensional registration for cochlear implant surgery using a common-path swept-source optical...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Otolaryngology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Cochlear implantation restores hearing in severe to profound deafness.
• Surgical trauma to sensorineural components can occur during electrode array insertion.
• Successful navigation of the cochlea's first turn is critical.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a robot-mounted swept-source optical coherence tomography (OCT) endoscopic platform.
• To enable three-dimensional (3-D) OCT registration for preoperative surgical planning in cochlear implant surgery.
• To accurately describe the cochlea's spatial and angular profiles for improved surgical navigation.

Main Methods:

• Development of a robot-mounted common-path OCT endoscopic platform.
• Utilized a 600-μm fiber optic rotary probe with a five-degrees-of-freedom robot (1 μm precision).
• Tested on a dry, fixed ex vivo human temporal bone.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated the feasibility of 3-D OCT registration of the cochlea.
• Accurately described the spatial and angular profiles of the scala tympani into the first cochlear turn.
• Validated the system's precision for surgical planning.

Conclusions:

• The developed OCT endoscopic platform facilitates precise 3-D imaging of the cochlea.
• This technology supports accurate preoperative surgical planning for cochlear implantation.
• Potential to reduce surgical trauma by improving electrode array insertion accuracy.