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An Augmented Reality Platform for the Enhancement of Surgical Decisions in Pediatric Laparoscopy

Authors:
Lucio Tommaso De Paolis
Giovanni Aloisio

Keywords: Augmented Reality; medical image processing; user interface; minimally invasive surgery; preoperative surgical planning

Abstract:
The practice of Minimally Invasive Surgery is becoming more and more widespread and adopted as an alternative to the classical procedure. This technique presents many advantages for the patients, but also some limitations for the surgeons. In particular, the lack of depth in perception and the difficulty in estimating the distance of the specific structures in laparoscopic surgery can impose limits on delicate dissection or suturing. The presence of new systems for the pre-operative planning can be of great help to the surgeon. The use of the Augmented Reality technology shows a way forward in bringing the direct advantage of the visualization of the open surgery back to minimally invasive surgery and can increase for the physician the view of the organs with information obtained from the image processing of the patient. The developed application allows the surgeon to get information about the patient and her/his pathology, visualizing and interacting with the 3D models of the organs built from the patient’s medical images, measuring the dimensions of the organs and deciding the best insertion points of the trocars in the patient’s body. This choice can be visualized on the real patient using the Augmented Reality technology.

Pages: 489 to 498

Copyright: Copyright (c) to authors, 2011. Used with permission.

Publication date: April 30, 2012

Published in: journal

ISSN: 1942-2628