Comparison of Augmented Reality Display Techniques to Support Medical Needle Insertion

Augmented reality (AR) may be a useful technique to overcome issues of conventionally used navigation systems supporting medical needle insertions, like increased mental workload and complicated hand-eye coordination. Previous research primarily focused on the development of AR navigation systems designed for specific displaying devices, but differences between employed methods have not been investigated before. To this end, a user study involving a needle insertion task was conducted comparing different AR display techniques with a monitor-based approach as baseline condition for the visualization of navigation information. A video see-through stationary display, an optical see-through head-mounted display and a spatial AR projector-camera-system were investigated in this comparison. Results suggest advantages of using projected navigation information in terms of lower task completion time, lower angular deviation and affirmative subjective participant feedback. Techniques requiring the intermediate view on screens, i.e. the stationary display and the baseline condition, showed less favorable results. Thus, benefits of providing AR navigation information compared to a conventionally used method could be identified. Significant objective measures results, as well as an identification of advantages and disadvantages of individual display techniques contribute to the development and design of improved needle navigation systems.