Intraoperative gaze guidance with mixed reality

Area of Science:

• Surgical Technology
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Medical Simulation

Background:

• Effective communication and collaboration are critical for safe and successful surgical procedures.
• Current communication methods in the operating room rely heavily on verbal interactions, which can lead to misunderstandings.
• Advancements in technology are needed to improve communication efficiency and accuracy in surgical settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel mixed reality (MR) based gaze sharing application for enhanced surgical communication.
• To evaluate the utility of this MR application in guiding novice surgeons during endoscopic kidney stone localization.
• To assess the impact of the MR application on surgeon task load, accuracy, and communication efficiency.

Main Methods:

• Development of a mixed reality (MR) application utilizing Microsoft HoloLens 2 for gaze sharing.
• User study involving urology experts and novice surgeons performing endoscopic kidney stone localization.
• Evaluation using NASA task load index surveys, task success rates, and gaze analyses.

Main Results:

• Significant reduction in NASA task load index scores (up to 25.23%).
• Improvement in task success rate, with a 6.98% increase in localized stone percentage.
• Enhanced gaze analyses indicating more efficient visual guidance (up to 31.99%).

Conclusions:

• The proposed MR gaze sharing application effectively improves communication and reduces cognitive load in surgical environments.
• The technology shows significant promise for both real-time operating room applications and surgical training.
• Mixed reality offers a transformative potential for enhancing surgical team collaboration and skill acquisition.