Cochlear implant is a surgically implanted device that allows rehabilitation of hearing in patients with severe to profound hearing loss. It represents the gold standard treatment for patients who derive limited or no benefit from conventional hearing aids. Preservation of residual hearing is an important issue during the surgical procedure of cochlear implantation. Greater preservation of hearing will allow better performance of the implant device, and give best benefit to patients. Traditional surgical procedures will damage almost all remaining residual hearing of patients during the implantation. A set of surgical robotic tools are developed in Brunel University London, to achieve best preservation results without changing the current surgical concept. The robotic tools use smart sensing algorithms to achieve tactile sensing during the procedures, which can provide guidance for the surgeon to avoid unnecessary damage to tissues. The tool has been successfully applied in operating theatre for creating cochleostomies.
Dr Xinli Du got his PhD from Loughborough University, U.K. He is a lecturer in Brunel University London, U.K. His research interests are mainly in the area of robotic surgery, especially hand guided robotic devices for surgical applications.
