A new apparatus for CT-guided stereotactic surgery.

Combining whole-body CT scan with a stereotactic system, the authors have developed and applied clinically an apparatus which readily provides intraoperative CT images, making it possible to confirm the location of the target point and ascertain the intraoperative environment. It takes about 9 s to obtain a CT image. Our purpose is to make stereotactic surgery, a kind of blind surgery, as safe and reliable as a visualized procedure by intraoperative CT scanning. By the method, in which there is very little invasion under local anesthesia, evacuation of deep-seated intracerebral hematomas as well as brain abscesses and also biopsy or brachytherapy of brain tumors in the brain can be done with safety and reliability.