This abstract, presented at the 2019 Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting, introduces the NaoTrac, the neuro-navisurgical robot, the first to utilize machine vision for stereotactic neurosurgery.

The focus of the study is to assess the feasibility and accuracy of NaoTrac for cranial neurosurgical interventions, particularly external ventricular drainage (EVD). Unlike traditional methods that rely on frame-based navigation, NaoTrac uses machine vision technology to calculate reference points and guide instruments more precisely.

The clinical trial involved ten cases of catheter placement, showing promising results with an average deviation of 1.63 mm from the target points and a mean surgery time of 23 minutes.

The study’s findings indicate that NaoTrac not only improves the accuracy of surgical navigation but also integrates seamlessly into routine neurosurgical workflows.

This breakthrough technology can potentially reduce surgical time, enhance procedural precision, and extend its use to other neurosurgical procedures in the future, such as tumor biopsies and deep brain stimulation.