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Updated: May 7, 2026
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Published on: September 2, 2025
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Computation and visualization of uncertainty in surgical navigation
Amber L Simpson1, Burton Ma, Edward M Vasarhelyi
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
Summary
Surgical navigation systems can now visualize instrument uncertainty without harming surgeon performance. This advancement improves surgical accuracy by displaying real-time data on position and orientation uncertainty.
Area of Science:
- Medical visualization
- Surgical navigation systems
- Human-computer interaction
Background:
- Current surgical displays lack instrument uncertainty information, potentially leading to critical navigational errors.
- Surgeons operate under the assumption of perfect data, unaware of positional and orientational uncertainties.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe the propagation of uncertainty to the tip of a surgical instrument.
- To propose and evaluate a novel method for visualizing surgical instrument uncertainty.
- To assess the impact of uncertainty visualization on surgical performance.
Main Methods:
- Described uncertainty propagation to the instrument tip.
- Developed a novel uncertainty visualization technique.
- Conducted a study with surgeons performing pedicle screw insertion to evaluate the visualization's effect on performance.
Main Results:
- Surgical performance, including screw insertion time, pedicle breach degree, and rotation error, was not negatively impacted by uncertainty visualization.
- The cognitive load associated with visualizing uncertainty did not impede surgical performance.
Conclusions:
- Real-time computation and visualization of surgical instrument uncertainty are feasible without compromising performance.
- The optimal method for uncertainty visualization may vary depending on the specific navigation display used.
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