Frameless Stereotactic Operating Microscope

A stereotactic microscope builds two-dimensional CT and MRI scans into three-dimensional displays that allow surgeons to peer deep within the body. Conventional systems rely on a cumbersome metal frame that rings and immobilizes the patient's head, tends to get in the surgeon's way, and (ouch!) has to be screwed directly into the skull. Dartmouth-Hitchcock neurosurgeon David Roberts DMS '75 and Thayer School engineer John Strohbehn came up with a better idea: a frameless system. Its heart is a computer connected to an operating-microscope and digitizer with a few wires and cables. Dartmouth holds the patent.