Visual guidance for auditory brainstem implantation with modular software design

摘要

An auditory brainstem implant (ABI) attempts to restore hearing at patients with bilateral damaged hearing nerve.The optimal placement of the ABI is challenging even with available auditory measures on the brainstem.We present a visual guidance system that aims to assist during intraoperative ABI placement.As a starting point, a surgical probe is navigated and intuitively visualized in the microscope oculars.The system is developed using modular and agile software design techniques.In a usability study, the participants were able to detect invisible targets marked in a phantom image with a millimetric precision.To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that this kind of visual guidance is presented.In the future, the system will be expanded with surgical instruments used for the ABI placement.