Instruments for Endoscopic Intracranial Microsurgery

Microsurgery produced revolutionary changes in the scope and safety of intracranialneurosurgery during the 1970's. Today, the endoscopic surgery revolution is just beginning to affectneurosurgery, but it shows great promise. Present endoscopic methods, however, severely limit thevariety and size of surgical instruments that can be used, and provide only monocular vision. PhaseI will develop a set of instruments that will combine the minimally invasive advantages of endoscopywith the manipulative advantages of microsurgery, allowing the neurosurgeon to utilize existingmicrosurgical skills -- guided by miniaturized optics -- to perform complex intracranial procedures withimproved vision through minimal surgical exposures. In Phase I, unique endoscopic microsurgicalinstruments will be developed and tested. The successful completion of this work will set the stage forcreating another revolutionary advance in neurosurgical technique. The resulting decrease in themorbidity and cost of complex intracranial neurosurgical procedures should be significant.