HNO
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The procedure of instrument navigation has been an established one since its introduction in ENT by Schloendorff. It facilitates better intraoperative orientation. The opto-electric and electromagnetic procedures are sophisticated principles of intraoperative position recognition. ⋯ The current boundaries of simple instrument navigation in the frontal skull base are set by the attainable accuracy of approx. 2 mm and the relatively simple representation of the information in planar sectional views. Instrument navigation should be used in the frontal skull base as frequently as possible, even in less complex procedures. Only in this way can familiarity with the system be achieved.
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The cochlea and vestibular organ is often affected in lightning strikes. A lightning strike to a motor vehicle with cochlear injury has not been described hitherto in the literature. ⋯ While hearing loss recovered using intravenous therapy, tinnitus persisted 6 months after the lightning strike. Cochlear injuries as an acute acoustic trauma have to be considered in lightning strikes and can occur when a car is struck by lightning.
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Ever faster processor capacity is having an impact on computer-assisted or computer-aided surgery (CAS). The fusion of different imaging modalities enables functional data such as PET-CT, for example, to be available in image-guided surgery. Referencing of image data is the key to precise navigation. ⋯ Alternatively, intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging or intraoperative sonography can be performed. Ultrasound systems have already been successfully integrated in existing navigational systems to compensate for intraoperative tissue shifting. Ultrasound systems may play a role in the future as a single modality in image-guided surgery in soft tissue of the neck and skull bone.
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Computer-aided microscopic surgery of the lateral skull base is a rare intervention in daily practice. It is often a delicate and difficult minimally invasive intervention, since orientation between the petrous bone and the petrous bone apex is often challenging. ⋯ However, there are no internationally standardised indications for navigated surgery on the lateral skull base. Miniaturised robotic systems are still in the initial validation phase.