Transoral Robotic Surgery: Image Guidance and Augmented Reality

Area of Science:

• Minimally Invasive Surgery
• Surgical Robotics
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Transoral robotic surgery (TORS) is an increasingly adopted minimally invasive alternative to open procedures.
• TORS offers benefits such as faster recovery, improved functional outcomes, reduced pain, and lower infection risk.
• Challenges in TORS include confined spaces, lack of haptic feedback, and proximity to critical anatomical structures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent advances in surgical image guidance for TORS.
• To explore how integrated imaging technologies enhance TORS procedures.
• To discuss clinical applications, effectiveness, and limitations of current image guidance technologies in TORS.

Main Methods:

• Overview of recent developments in surgical image guidance for TORS.
• Focus on imaging technologies integrated with surgical robot platforms.
• Examination of augmented reality (AR) for registration and overlay of visual information, navigational cues, and anatomical structures.

Main Results:

• Advanced image guidance fuses visual information with navigational cues and anatomical representations via AR.
• Registration accuracy is a key consideration, particularly in TORS where target anatomy is near rigid structures.
• The discussed technologies aim to mitigate challenges posed by confined spaces and sensory deficits in TORS.

Conclusions:

• Surgical image guidance integrated with TORS platforms shows significant promise for improving surgical outcomes.
• Augmented reality-based image guidance can provide crucial navigational information and anatomical context.
• Further development is needed to fully realize the potential of these technologies in clinical TORS procedures.