Application of a glasses-free 3D laparoscopic system in radical gastrointestinal cancer surgery

The clinical application of autostereoscopic (glass-free) 3D laparoscopic systems in the radical resection of gastrointestinal malignancies remains to be fully evaluated.

To compare the surgical outcomes and short-term postoperative complications between autostereoscopic (glass-free) 3D and glasses-based 3D laparoscopic systems in patients undergoing radical resection for gastric and colorectal malignancies.

This retrospective study involved 165 patients (99 males, 66 females; median age: 63 years; range: 28-86 years) who underwent laparoscopic radical resection for gastrointestinal malignancies between October 2022 and May 2023. Patients were divided into naked-eye 3D groups (gastric cancer: n = 16; colorectal cancer: n = 19) and glasses-based 3D groups (gastric cancer: n = 52; colorectal cancer: n = 78). Surgical outcomes and 30-day postoperative complications were compared between the groups.

For gastric cancer patients, no significant differences in operation time [195 (169, 214) minutes vs 196 (173, 222) minutes], blood loss [20 (10, 90) mL vs 40 (20, 100) mL], or complication rates (12.5% vs 17.3%) were detected between the naked-eye 3D (n = 16) and glasses-based (n = 52) groups. Similarly, in colorectal cancer patients, comparable outcomes were achieved between groups, with postoperative complication rates of 15.8% and 14.1%, respectively. No conversion to open surgery was required in either group.

Preliminary evidence suggests that the autostereoscopic 3D laparoscopic system achieves comparable surgical outcomes to those of conventional glasses-based systems in the radical resection of gastrointestinal malignancies. Further large-scale studies are needed to validate these findings.