title: Augmented reality in the surgery of cerebral arteriovenous malformations: technique assessment and considerations.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Augmented reality technology has been used for intraoperative image guidance through the overlay of virtual images, from preoperative imaging studies, onto the real-world surgical field. Although setups based on augmented reality have been used for various neurosurgical pathologies, very few cases have been reported for the surgery of arteriovenous malformations (AVM). We present our experience with AVM surgery using a system designed for image injection of virtual images into the operating microscope's eyepiece, and discuss why augmented reality may be less appealing in this form of surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  N = 5 patients underwent AVM resection assisted by augmented reality. Virtual three-dimensional models of patients' heads, skulls, AVM nidi, and feeder and drainage vessels were selectively segmented and injected into the microscope's eyepiece for intraoperative image guidance, and their usefulness was assessed in each case.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although the setup helped in performing tailored craniotomies, in guiding dissection and in localizing drainage veins, it did not provide the surgeon with useful information concerning feeder arteries, due to the complexity of AVM angioarchitecture.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The difficulty in intraoperatively conveying useful information on feeder vessels may make augmented reality a less engaging tool in this form of surgery, and might explain its underrepresentation in the literature. Integrating an AVM's hemodynamic characteristics into the augmented rendering could make it more suited to AVM surgery.
authors.affiliation: Neurosurgery Division, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, Geneva University Medical Center, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, 1211, Genève 14, Switzerland, ivan.cabrilo@hcuge.ch.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cabrilo
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bijlenga
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schaller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015901:Angiography, Digital Subtraction / Q000295:instrumentation*; D002533:Cerebral Angiography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003399:Craniotomy / Q000295:instrumentation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000295:instrumentation*; D002538:Intracranial Arteriovenous Malformations / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008866:Microsurgery / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008875:Middle Aged; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation; D038361:Neuronavigation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D055815:Young Adult