Metrological securing of a drilling process during image-based minimally invasive surgery using the example of the otobase - Mambo 2

 

Irreparable damage to nerves and bones can be caused by the heat that is introduced into the tissue when drilling into bones. However, there are currently no medical drilling devices that can record temperature data parallel to the drilling process in order to prevent tissue damage.

To address this problem, the first funding phase of the Mambo project focused on the development of a drill with an integrated temperature sensor that can record the prevailing temperature in the drilling ground and communicate it to the user in real time. The goal of the subsequent Mambo 2 project is to process the temperature data recorded during drilling with the previously developed drill in the form of an intraoperative assistance system, which informs the surgeon about the prevailing temperature condition parallel to the drilling process. Furthermore, the temperature data is linked with recommendations for action to regulate the temperature. Using this information during drilling, the surgeon is able to control the temperature development in the drilling ground. In this way, the risk to the patient resulting from drilling into the skull can be significantly reduced.

To achieve this goal, the drill with integrated temperature sensor from the first phase of the project will be further developed to meet medical requirements (e.g. material, geometric design, etc.). Subsequently, the correlation between the drilling parameters (material, speed, feed rate, etc.) and the drilling ground temperature will be determined using a reproducible test setup. This correlation results in recommendations for action, which are made available to the surgeon via a display.

The use of the intraoperative assistance system reduces the risk of thermal damage to tissue during bone drilling in the skull. Furthermore, the test results can be useful for a later development of, for example, a temperature-controlled drilling process guided by a robot, so that in the future hand-guided and robot-based drilling processes can be used in parallel in medical practice.