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Augmented reality navigation for liver resection with a stereoscopic laparoscope
Huoling Luo1, Dalong Yin2, Shugeng Zhang2
1Research Lab for Medical Imaging and Digital Surgery, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China; Shenzhen College of Advanced Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.
This study introduces an augmented reality (AR) navigation system for liver resection, enhancing surgical visualization of tumors and vessels. The system shows promise for improved clinical practice in laparoscopic liver surgery.
Area of Science:
- Medical Imaging
- Surgical Navigation
- Augmented Reality
Background:
- Accurate 3D spatial understanding of vessels and tumors is crucial for laparoscopic liver resections.
- Augmented reality (AR) can overlay internal patient anatomy onto laparoscopic video feeds.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and evaluate an AR-assisted navigation system for liver resection.
- To provide surgeons with enhanced visualization of subsurface anatomy, including tumors and vessels.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a rigid stereoscopic laparoscope with an unsupervised convolutional neural network (CNN) for intraoperative 3D liver surface generation.
- Employed V-Net architecture for segmenting preoperative CT data and a globally optimal iterative closest point (Go-ICP) algorithm for model registration.
- Superimposed preoperative 3D models onto live laparoscopic images for enhanced surgical guidance.
Main Results:
- The AR navigation system demonstrated accuracy in both ex vivo (6.04 ± 1.85 mm) and in vivo (8.73 ± 2.43 mm) porcine liver experiments.
- Reprojection errors (RPE) were measured to validate the system's precision.
Conclusions:
- The developed AR-assisted navigation system shows significant potential for clinical application in liver resections.
- Both qualitative and quantitative results support the system's utility in improving surgical procedures.
