The Future of Neuronavigation

Abstract

As the concept of frameless stereotaxy, image-guided surgery or neuronavigation has moved from early development to general commercial distribution and rapidly approaches a mature stage, consideration of its course over the next decade warrants discussion of the likely refinement of its underlying technology, expansion of its clinical application, and its implications, including the effect on the training of tomorrow’s surgeons. As one might have anticipated, various implementations and strategies over the past two decades have proven of variable utility, but the overarching methodology, by which the operative field and additional information in the form of imaging or atlases can be co-registered to provide accurate and generally planned surgical intervention, has gradually become integrated into our general procedures. Trying to predict the future is often a fool’s errand, but some consideration of where we might be headed may facilitate informed planning at both the developmental and clinical levels.