Diskussion unterschiedlicher assistenzmethoden für die endoskopie aus technischer sicht

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 de-scribed systems have been evaluated clinically at the University Hospital Leipzig, Germany. The -results are used to improve these systems con-tinuously. In future, the use of micro cameras -instead of todays endoscopes will most probably become an important new imaging concept.