Metrology-based quality assurance for image-guided minimally invasive surgery at the lateral skull base

• Applicants: Dr. Julia Kristin; Professor Dr. Jörg Schipper; Professor Dr.-Ing. Robert Schmitt
• Subject Area: Automation, Mechatronics, Control Systems, Intelligent Technical Systems, Robotics ; Medical Physics, Biomedical Technology
• Term: from 2015 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 277205406

When introducing holes into the skull there is an increased risk of damage to the surrounding tissue due to increased heat input. The heat input must be controlled and kept as low as possible so as not to damage facial nerves, for example. Since there are currently no medical drilling rigs capable of measuring and conditioning the prevailing temperature at the drilling site, a drill with integrated temperature sensing has been developed in the first funding phase. The drill is used to investigate the relation between the resulting drilling temperature and the parameters that influence the drilling process (rotational speed, work angle, bone material, ...).The aim of the funding phase applied for here is the generation of measurement data and their processing in the form of an intraoperative assistance system. These data are to be made accessible to the surgeon during the surgical procedure using a hand-held drill. This allows the operator to control the process via the drilling parameters with regard to the temperature development in the drilling ground. The concept developed in the first funding phase for the metrology-based quality assurance of medical drilling processes has to be expanded and further developed for clinical application.To achieve the goal, the following subpackages must be processed. First of all, the drill with integrated sensor has to be developed further so that it meets the medical requirements. Subsequently, the relationship between the drilling parameters and the drilling ground temperature is determined on a reproducible test setup. From this context, recommendations for action result, which are calculated by an open source program and made visually and acoustically available to the surgeon via a display. Finally, the sensor and the display are integrated in a hand-held medical drill and validated afterwards.The use of the intraoperative assistance system reduces the risk of thermal damage to tissue during bone drilling in the skull. Due to the short response time of the sensor also unpredictable temperature effects, such as the sticking of chips during the drilling process, are considered. In addition, the development of the hand-held drill rig with integrated sensors makes a valuable contribution to understanding and investigating the drilling base temperature during the drilling process. Furthermore, the experimental results may be useful in later development of, for example, a temperature controlled drilling process performed by a robot, so that hand-held and robot-based drilling processes may be used in parallel in medical practice in the future.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants