Pico Lantern: a pick-up projector for augmented reality in laparoscopic surgery

Area of Science:

• Minimally Invasive Surgery
• Surgical Navigation
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Laparoscopic surgery requires precise guidance for complex procedures.
• Current tools lack integrated real-time surface projection and tracking capabilities.
• The Pico Lantern aims to address these limitations with its unique design.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and evaluate the Pico Lantern as a novel tool for laparoscopic surgery guidance.
• To assess the accuracy of surface reconstruction using the Pico Lantern.
• To demonstrate the feasibility of in vivo motion detection with the device.

Main Methods:

• The Pico Lantern, a miniaturized laser projection tool, was developed for laparoscopic use.
• Surface reconstruction accuracy was measured using stereo and mono endoscopy with and without Pico Lantern tracking.
• In vivo pulsatile motion detection was performed on a human carotid artery.

Main Results:

• Tracking the Pico Lantern with a mono endoscope reduced surface reconstruction absolute error to 0.8mm (plane), 0.3mm (cylinder), and 1.5mm (kidney).
• This demonstrates the benefit of the wider baseline achieved through Pico Lantern tracking.
• Pulsatile motion of a human carotid artery was successfully detected in vivo.

Conclusions:

• The Pico Lantern offers a significant improvement in surgical guidance through accurate surface reconstruction.
• Tracking the Pico Lantern enhances precision in minimally invasive procedures.
• The device shows promise for integration into standard and robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery.