The Accuracy of Image-guided Neurosurgery Using Implantable Ducial Markers

|An extrinsic point-based, interactive image-guided neurosurgical system has been designed at Vanderbilt in a collaborative eeort between the Departments of Neurosurgery, Biomedical Engineering, and Computer Science. In this paper we investigate the theoretical accuracy of point-based registration using numerical simulations, the experimental accuracy of the system using data obtained with a phantom, and the clinical accuracy of the system using data from a prospective clinical trial. We demonstrate that the accuracy of the registration of CT and MR images to each other and to physical space (i.e. patient anatomy) using four implantable ducial markers is millimetric.