Abstract
We investigated whether the general belief is true that image-guided surgery improves surgical safety but increases the surgical time. We compared intraoperative complications and surgical time in our cochlear implant and acoustic tumor removal surgeries with or without the assistance of image guidance. No comparison was possible in complications which were very rare in both groups. Surgical time was similar in cochlear implant surgeries, which is an established surgery with little variances, with no increase in surgical time was noted in image-guided group. On the other hand, in acoustic tumor removal cases which is more difficult and require more experience, the surgical time was much longer in the image-guided group. It was suggested that surgical time elongation in image-guided surgery depends on the proficiency of the surgeon to the specific surgery, rather than on the use of image-guided surgery itself.
