Introduction: The presentation of the surgical anatomy of the temporal bone by standard anatomical figures is not suitable for otosurgical training. For the comprehension of its complex morphology temporal bone drilling is inalienable. Aim of the present cooperation was to gain an interactive real-3D program for the simulation of specific laterobasal surgical approaches.
Methods: The program was derived from a standard horizontal section of a human temporal bone using a Siemens Somatom Plus 4 Tomograph. The slice thickness was 1 mm, the image matrix was 512. The Voxel-Man-system was used to built up the application for unix workstations.
Results: Each step of a surgical approach to the temporal bone can be performed by the present computer model. Calculation in a stereo mode even allows spatial 3D-perception when using red/green glasses.
Conclusions: This program is a novel tool to simulate critical aspects of otosurgical procedures on a computer. Up to now the lack of tactile and kinesthetic information does not allow to renounce individual temporal bone drilling.