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Active Parallax-Effect Compensation for Augmented Reality-Assisted Surgery: Feasibility and Performance
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics
|July 22, 2026
Summary
This study introduces an Active Parallax-effect Compensation (APC) framework to significantly improve augmented reality (AR) projection accuracy in surgery. The novel user-specific calibration method reduces AR errors by over 70%, enhancing surgical navigation reliability.
Area of Science:
- Medical Imaging
- Computer-Assisted Surgery
- Augmented Reality Visualization
Background:
- Augmented Reality (AR) offers potential for computer-assisted surgery but faces limitations due to parallax-effect inaccuracies, especially at short distances.
- Clinical adoption of AR in surgery is hindered by projection errors, impacting the reliability of surgical navigation systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a novel user-specific calibration technique for dynamically correcting AR projection errors caused by the parallax effect.
- To enhance the accuracy and clinical viability of optical see-through AR guidance systems in surgical navigation.
Main Methods:
- Designed a decentralized architecture to offload spatial computations from the AR headset to external hardware, enabling goggle-navigation registration.
- Developed the Active Parallax-effect Compensation (APC) framework to perform real-time correction of parallax-induced distortions.
- Validated the APC framework using a standard ASTM F2554-22 model and a patient-specific spine model, measuring projection accuracy with APC ON and OFF.
Main Results:
- Without Active Parallax-effect Compensation (APC), projection errors were 8.50 ± 2.98 mm (close) and 6.26 ± 2.54 mm (far).
- With APC enabled, projection errors were significantly reduced to 2.10 ± 1.35 mm (close) and 1.72 ± 1.27 mm (far), representing error reductions of 75.2% and 72.5%, respectively.
- Statistical testing confirmed high accuracy margins (0.58 mm for ASTM model, 0.68 mm for spine model) with APC, demonstrating significant improvement (p < 0.05).
Conclusions:
- The Active Parallax-effect Compensation (APC) framework substantially reduces AR projection error by compensating for parallax-induced perceptual distortions.
- This study demonstrates a scalable approach to enhance AR projection reliability, supporting more accurate and clinically viable optical see-through AR guidance systems for surgical navigation.
