Augmented reality navigation with automatic marker-free image registration using 3-D image overlay for dental surgery

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Computer-Assisted Surgery
• Augmented Reality

Background:

• Computer-assisted oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMS) has advanced significantly.
• Current surgical navigation systems in OMS face challenges such as bulky sensors, complex registration, patient movement, poor depth perception, and low accuracy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an augmented reality navigation system for dental surgery.
• To implement automatic marker-free image registration and stereo tracking.
• To enhance surgical guidance by overlaying 3-D anatomical images and instrument tracking.

Main Methods:

• A customized stereo camera was used for patient and instrument tracking.
• Marker-free image registration was achieved through patient tracking and real-time 3-D contour matching.
• Autostereoscopic 3-D imaging was utilized with a consumer-level graphics processing unit.

Main Results:

• The system provides real-time 3-D image overlay of patient anatomy onto the surgical site.
• Augmented reality display includes overlay of the surgical instrument for enhanced visualization.
• Experiments demonstrated an overall image overlay error of 0.71 mm.

Conclusions:

• The proposed augmented reality system offers accurate and intuitive navigation for dental surgery.
• Marker-free registration and stereo tracking overcome limitations of existing OMS navigation systems.
• The system enhances depth perception and visual guidance, potentially improving surgical outcomes.