Navigated microprobe

• US 20030078485A1
• Filed: 12/04/2001
• Published: 04/24/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brainlab AG
• Original Assignee: Brainlab AG
• Inventors: Hartlep, Andreas
• Granted Patent: US 6,694,162 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/378
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/107 Visualisation of planned trajectories or target regions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2055 Optical tracking systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2072 Reference field transducer attached to an instrument or patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/20 Surgical navigation systems; Devices for tracking or guiding surgical instruments, e.g. for frameless stereotaxis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/25 User interfaces for surgical systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/064 using markers A61B5/062 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/24 Detecting, measuring or recording bioelectric or biomagnetic signals of the body or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/685 Microneedles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/721 using a separate sensor to detect motion or using motion information derived from signals other than the physiological signal to be measured
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/743 Displaying an image simultaneously with additional graphical information, e.g. symbols, charts, function plots

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for electrophysiologically localising target areas in the brain, comprising a multi-channel microprobe (10) which at its active end comprises a multitude of tightly packed microelectrodes arranged axially in rows, via which electrophysiological efferences are obtained in the target area and forwarded to an evaluating unit, wherein the microprobe (10) is assigned to a tracking device (5) which allows the microprobe (10) to be positionally detected by means of a neuronavigation system (1, 2, 3, 8) and the insertion of the probe to be stereotactically planned.

Claims

1. A device for electrophysiologically localising target areas in the brain, comprising a multi-channel microprobe (10) which at its active end comprises a multitude of tightly packed microelectrodes arranged axially in rows, via which electrophysiological efferences are obtained in the target area and forwarded to an evaluating unit, characterised in that said microprobe (10) is assigned to a tracking device (5) which allows said microprobe (10) to be positionally detected by means of a neuronavigation system (1, 2, 3, 8) and the insertion of said probe to be stereotactically planned.

2. The device as set forth in claim 1, characterised in that said navigation system comprises a screen output (8) on which the evaluations of electrophysiological localisation and of the navigational data are shown together.

3. The device as set forth in any one of claims 1 or 2, characterised in that said microprobe (10) comprises 25 to 32 microelectrodes.

4. The device as set forth in any one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that said navigation system is an optical navigation system, wherein said tracking device (5) is attached to a manipulator (6) for said microprobe (10) and consists of an arrangement of markers (5), in particular of three reflection markers, whose spatial position is detected by cameras (2, 3) of said navigation system.

5. The device as set forth in any one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that said navigation system is a magnetic navigation system, wherein said tracking device is attached to a manipulator (6) for said microprobe (10) or to said microprobe itself and consists of an arrangement of coils, in particular of two miniature coils, whose spatial position is detected in an established magnetic field.

6. The device as set forth in claim 4 or 5, characterised in that said navigation system further comprises a patient tracking device (4), by means of which a current position of the patient'"'"'s head is detected in real time.

7. The device as set forth in any one of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that said navigation system comprises a computer unit (1) which links the data from the electrophysiological efferences of functional areas of the brain and the navigational data with one another and adapts navigation by way of positional data and information from the electrophysiological efferences of functional areas of the brain.

8. The device as set forth in any one of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that said navigation system comprises a computer unit which links the data from the electrophysiological efferences of functional areas of the brain and the navigational data with each other and works positional data and information from the electrophysiological efferences of functional areas of the brain into the anatomical data available to the navigation system, in particular for producing a brain atlas.