Additional Visualization via Smart Glasses Improves Accuracy of Wire Insertion in Fracture Surgery

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic surgery
• Surgical technology
• Wearable computing

Background:

• Smart glasses (SG) are head-mounted monitors displaying information, enabling simultaneous visualization of multiple views.
• SG can provide lateral side visualization alongside the anteroposterior (AP) view, aiding surgical navigation.
• This pilot study explores the utility of SG in orthopedic procedures, specifically bone fracture wire insertion.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of smart glasses in improving the accuracy of Kirschner wire (K-wire) insertion during simulated bone fracture repair.
• To compare the precision of K-wire placement using SG versus traditional direct vision methods.

Main Methods:

• Surgeons performed K-wire insertions into an artificial femur, with and without SG, over multiple trials.
• Accuracy was quantified by measuring the error angle between the K-wire and target trajectory in both frontal and lateral planes.
• Procedure duration for K-wire insertion was recorded for both the SG and direct vision arms.

Main Results:

• Smart glasses significantly reduced the mean error angle (3.2°) compared to direct vision (4.8°, P = .02).
• No statistically significant difference in K-wire insertion time was observed between the SG (14.9 seconds) and direct vision (17.5 seconds) groups.

Conclusions:

• Simultaneous lateral visualization via smart glasses enhances accuracy in K-wire insertion for orthopedic surgery.
• SG technology offers a valuable tool for improving precision in surgical procedures while maintaining focus on the primary surgical view.