This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Neuronavigation allows surgeons to safely reach posterior orbital tumors
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
PARIS — Neuronavigation applied to the orbit allows surgeons to reach posterior orbital tumors in a safe, precise, less invasive manner with encouraging results, according to a study carried out at the Rothschild Foundation in Paris.
Before the development of digital imaging systems, access to the posterior orbit for biopsy and surgical treatment was often possible by craniotomy, an invasive procedure with many potential severe complications.
"Now, image-guided navigation in orbital surgery helps us to the exact location of the tumor, which we can reach through an anterior orbitotomy," Pierre Vincent Jacomet, MD, said in an interview with Ocular Surgery News at the meeting of the French Society of Ophthalmology.
Neuronavigation uses infrared signals transmitted through a headpiece with fiduciary markers to provide three-dimensional images of the target region for surgery.
"Visualization is extremely good. It allows the performance of safe and precise surgical maneuvers in this narrow space, where so many delicate, vital structures are present and where the mobility of anatomical elements is very limited," Dr. Jacomet said.
Up to now, this technique has been used to perform biopsies of orbital tumors, but it might be a promising technique for surgical removal of orbital apex lesions in the future.