title: Augmented reality to the rescue of the minimally invasive surgeon. The usefulness of the interposition of stereoscopic images in the Da Vinci™ robotic console.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Computerized management of medical information and 3D imaging has become the norm in everyday medical practice. Surgeons exploit these emerging technologies and bring information previously confined to the radiology rooms into the operating theatre. The paper reports the authors' experience with integrated stereoscopic 3D-rendered images in the da Vinci surgeon console.
  
  
  METHODS
  Volume-rendered images were obtained from a standard computed tomography dataset using the OsiriX DICOM workstation. A custom OsiriX plugin was created that permitted the 3D-rendered images to be displayed in the da Vinci surgeon console and to appear stereoscopic. These rendered images were displayed in the robotic console using the TilePro multi-input display. The upper part of the screen shows the real endoscopic surgical field and the bottom shows the stereoscopic 3D-rendered images. These are controlled by a 3D joystick installed on the console, and are updated in real time.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five patients underwent a robotic augmented reality-enhanced procedure. The surgeon was able to switch between the classical endoscopic view and a combined virtual view during the procedure. Subjectively, the addition of the rendered images was considered to be an undeniable help during the dissection phase.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With the rapid evolution of robotics, computer-aided surgery is receiving increasing interest. This paper details the authors' experience with 3D-rendered images projected inside the surgical console. The use of this intra-operative mixed reality technology is considered very useful by the surgeon. It has been shown that the usefulness of this technique is a step toward computer-aided surgery that will progress very quickly over the next few years.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Visceral and Transplantation Surgery, Department of Surgery, Geneva University Hospital, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, 1211, Geneva 14, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Volonté
authors.forename: Nicolas C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Buchs
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pugin
authors.forename: Joël
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Spaltenstein
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schiltz
authors.forename: Minoa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hagen
authors.forename: Osman
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ratib
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Morel
mesh_terms: D003867:Depth Perception; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D025321:Surgery, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014584:User-Computer Interface