Ex vivoaccuracy evaluation for robot assisted laser bone ablation

BACKGROUND: Cutting bony tissue using short-pulsed laser ablation enables contact-free processing in arbitrary shapes and with considerably smaller incision widths compared with mechanical tools. This precise method necessitates assistance by robotic surgery. METHODS: Using a prototype system for robot assisted laser bone ablation, the complete workflow was evaluated. Planning of cutting incisions was performed based on CT datasets of an ex vivo bone of a pig. After registration the preplanned cutting was executed autonomously by the robot assisted laser ablation system. RESULTS: Evaluation of post-operative measurements revealed an overall positioning accuracy of less than 0.5 mm. CONCLUSION: Robot assisted laser bone ablation has the potential to revolutionize surgery, especially in those interventions where the accuracy achievable manually is not sufficient.