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The future of CT lies in higher quality systems that are smaller and more convenient to use. The most incovenient feature of intraoperative CT is its size. There is no CT system with a "surgeon's window" like in superconducting MR systems. Due to the x-ray exposure hazard, CT will probably never be used to take images while the surgeon is operating, only after the surgeon has stepped away from the patient. This won't change in the future. What will change is the size of the equipment necessary to do imaging. Since it is necessary for the surgeon to step away from the operating table to do imaging, it is only a small additional inconvenience to have to move the imaging system in place. Ideally the operating table would be radiotranslucent so only the CT system would move. Additionally, the operator console could be made smaller with heavy processing done remotely.