HNO
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A consequence of the ongoing advances in medical navigation is the development of so-called mechatronic assistant systems. Up to now, medical navigation had been used only for additional intrasurgical orientation. But improvements in accuracy in imaging and medical navigation can exceed the surgeon's possible manual accuracy of surgical manipulation. ⋯ The development and possible use of such mechatronic assistant systems in the head and neck, as well as improvements in the accuracy of medical navigation, are the focus of several working groups. For coordinating and adapting the various research projects, different research groups were called to present their current projects and results in the context of ASKRA (working group for skull-base and craniofacial surgery of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery) workshops at the German Society for Computer- and Robot-Assisted Surgery (CURAC) convention on 14 October 2006 in Hanover. Different projects were presented, with topics including navigated controlled assistant systems for the frontal and lateral skull base, possibilities for sonographic-induced bone measurement, and requirements for high-precision surgery of the skull base.
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Further developments in the German DRG system have been incorporated into the 2008 version. For ENT medicine and head and neck surgery significant changes concerning coding of diagnoses, medical procedures and concerning the DRG-structure were made. ⋯ The G-DRG system has gained in complexity again. High demands are made on correct and complete coding of complex ENT and head and neck surgery cases. Quality of case allocation within the G-DRG system has been improved. For standard cases quality of case allocation is adequate. Nevertheless, further adjustments of the G-DRG system especially for cases with complex neck surgery are necessary.