Different Assistance Concepts for Rigid Endoscopes: Technical Point of View

This article presents several new methods to support the use of endoscopes by navigation and robotics. At the beginning of the 90s, the basic principles were already published. Nevertheless, the implementation as surgical devices of daily use has failed. This paper describes a new family of tiny robots for a normal use of endoscopes in the head-and-neck area. In addition, tiny robots for instrument guidance are presented. The described systems have been evaluated clinically at the University Hospital Leipzig, Germany. The results are used to improve these systems continuously. In future, the use of micro cameras instead of today's endoscopes will most probably become an important new imaging concept.