Stryker has commercially launched its Q guidance system with cranial guidance software to provide surgeons with an image-based planning and intraoperative guidance system that assists in positioning instruments and identifying patient anatomy during cranial surgery.
The software can be used for craniotomies, skull base and transsphenoidal procedures, shunt placements, and biopsies, as detailed in a press release from the company.
“With cranial guidance software powered by Q, neurosurgeons have more surgical planning and guidance capabilities than ever before, with a special focus on biopsies and shunt placements,” said Robbie Robinson, president of Stryker’s Spine division. “This technology has the potential to become the standard of care, and a possible means to increase accuracy and efficiency in the operating room.”
According to Stryker, the Q guidance system with cranial guidance software uses both active and passive tracking technology to provide “groundbreaking” planning and guidance capabilities that include:
- A proprietary camera: Stryker’s new fourth generation FP8000 camera offers increased speeds compared to products currently offered on the market
- Dual PC system: One PC powers the operating system’s applications while the other provides real-time patient data
- Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and tractography: DTI uses anisotropic diffusion to estimate the brain’s axonal organisation, reconstructed in 3D
- Precision targeting system: Enables navigated biopsy of cranial tissue by using comprehensive guidance data and imaging to pre-plan an approach for entry point
- Electromagnetic catheter placement: Enables pin-less shunt procedures
“With Stryker’s new camera technology, we were able to quickly register patients using the CranialMask Tracker,” said J D Day (University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences [UAMS] Health, Little Rock, USA). “The new user interface and workflows are slick, and our staff loves the intuitive new views like 3D targeting and the new skull stripping feature.”
The Q guidance system with cranial guidance software was also used at six early product surveillance sites in May of this year.
