An Electric Field Stereotaxis Method for Surgical Localization and Navigation of Solid Organs

High-precision real-time localization and navigation are crucial in invasive surgery, particularly for solid organ procedures where endoscopy is not feasible. However, the existing methods have the disadvantages of imprecise localization, shallow depth, large equipment, and excessive radiation. This article proposes a novel electric field stereotaxis (EFS) method for surgical instrument localization and navigation that uses a noniterative stereotaxis algorithm that avoids repeated iterations, and a spatial differential algorithm is proposed to improve localization accuracy and reduce systematic errors. The localization equipment consists mainly of a current injection electrode on the surgical instrument and noninvasive skin measure electrode sensors. The average localization precision for the linear path localization experiment on the 16-electrode head phantom was
$1.54~\pm ~1.65$
mm, with a positioning update rate of over 20 times per second. Navigation with various entry angles confirms a distance error of less than 3 mm and 2°. By incorporating the real-time correction method, the average precision across arbitrary paths is enhanced to 93 ± 0.90 mm. This method enables high-precision localization solely through a simple electric field and miniaturized equipment, paving a new path for high-precision real-time surgical localization and navigation techniques.