Introduction to robotics in skull base surgery

Abstract

Although the use of robotic surgery has increased dramatically over the past three decades, its progress in skull base surgery has been relatively slow. This chapter introduces the principle of robotics in skull base surgery and summarizes the current state of the art in this field. It provides an overview of the evolution of robotics in surgery in general and skull base surgery in particular, gives outline descriptions of the robots' structures and features, summarizes the approaches used in robotics-based skull base surgery, and finally enumerates the advantages, limitations, and challenges of using robotics in these procedures.