Optical Navigation-Related Factors Interfering With The Accuracy of Robot-Assisted Surgery

Abstract

Objective To explore navigation-related factors interfering with accuracy of robot-assisted surgery. Methods We made a measurement model to test the accuracy of the TianJi Robot system when performing the stimulated screw placement procedure. The three-coordinate machine was used to measure the deviation between the actual position and the planned position. We designed corresponding experiments to explore the effects of different navigation-related factors on the screw placement accuracy. The deviations were measured at different distance (ranging from 1.2 m to 2.2 m) between the navigation optical stereo camera and the tracker and each distance was measured 50 times. The distance between the optical camera and the patient tracker was set at 1.4 m and the deviations were measured at different angles between the camera and the robot tracker, each angle was measured more than 25 times. Data was donated with mean and standard deviation. The line charts were employed to describe the changes of deviations over one clinical factor including distance and angle. Results Within the available scope of navigation optical system (1.2 m-2.2 m), the deviation increased with the distance (χ2=479.107, P<0.001). The robotic system accuracy was high and stable (mean deviation 0.332 mm ± 0.067 mm) when the relative angle between the optical camera and the tracker less than 40 degrees. Conclusions Accuracy of robot system was affected by the relative distance and angle between the optical camera and the tracker. When placing and adjusting the optical tracking devices, surgeons should set the relative distance between the optical camera and the patient tracker as 1.4 m- 1.5 m and the relative angle less than 40 degrees.