Evaluation of our new three-dimensional navigation system in robot-assisted partial nephrectomy

Area of Science:

• Urology
• Surgical Navigation
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Partial nephrectomy (PN) requires precise tumor localization and renal function preservation.
• Existing navigation systems face challenges with organ deformation during surgery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the accuracy of a 3D kidney model navigation system during partial nephrectomy.
• To evaluate the system's performance under conditions of minimal organ deformation.

Main Methods:

• Generated 3D kidney and tumor models from DICOM data.
• Acquired 3D surgical field point clouds using stereo cameras.
• Applied noise reduction and iterative closest point registration for accuracy assessment.

Main Results:

• Noise reduction improved registration accuracy from 2.33 mm to 1.83 mm.
• Shorter camera-to-target distances significantly enhanced accuracy.
• Minimal organ deformation moments enabled high-precision surgical navigation.

Conclusions:

• High-precision surgical navigation is feasible in partial nephrectomy using real-time surgical recordings.
• This technology can enhance tumor localization and aid in preserving renal function.