The history of stereotactic technology

This paper takes an overall review on the development of stereotactic technology. During the year 1947-2015, the history of stereotactic technology can be divided into five stages: 1) frame-based and stereotactic technology (1947-1972); 2) frame-based and computer assisted stereotactic technology (1973-the end of 20th century); 3) frameless stereotactic technology or neuronavigation era (since 1987); 4) frameless stereotactic technology and functional neuronavigation era (since late 20th century); 5) stereotactic combined with robotic technology era (since 2000). DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2015.09.003