Potential of the navigated controlled surgery at the lateral skull base with the navigated control unit (NCU 2.0).

Segmentation for navigated control was in the first generation very time consuming. In the present version (NCU 2.0) the risk structure is segmented (instead of the work space), this leads to an enormous decrease in preparation time. In additional, new safety functions were integrated. The segmentation feasibility was tested on patient data and proved to be successful. The automatic stop function was tested on petrous bone models and showed no damage to the facial nerve.