Evaluation of Elapsed Times for Surgical Workflow of Deep Brain Stimulation: A Preliminary Report

Abstract

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a surgical treatment which implants stimulating electrodes in deep brain structure and implanted pulse generators (IPG) into the chest. DBS has shown therapeutic benefits for chronic pain, Parkinson’s disease, tremor, and dystonia. In this paper, we present preliminary evaluation results of conventional stereotactic frame based DBS procedures in terms of elapsed time. The purpose is to build a basis on which a quantitative evaluation on efficiency of surgical robot systems for DBS is possible, and to identify what the benefits of using surgical robot systems in DBS are. For the purpose, we define surgical procedures for the conventional DBS and measure time for each procedure. Eight DBS cases are studied, and the evaluation results of averaged elapsed time are shown.