title: Automatic segmentation of occluded vasculature via pulsatile motion analysis in endoscopic robot-assisted partial nephrectomy video.
abstract: Hilar dissection is an important and delicate stage in partial nephrectomy, during which surgeons remove connective tissue surrounding renal vasculature. Serious complications arise when the occluded blood vessels, concealed by fat, are missed in the endoscopic view and as a result are not appropriately clamped. Such complications may include catastrophic blood loss from internal bleeding and associated occlusion of the surgical view during the excision of the cancerous mass (due to heavy bleeding), both of which may compromise the visibility of surgical margins or even result in a conversion from a minimally invasive to an open intervention. To aid in vessel discovery, we propose a novel automatic method to segment occluded vasculature from labeling minute pulsatile motion that is otherwise imperceptible with the naked eye. Our segmentation technique extracts subtle tissue motions using a technique adapted from phase-based video magnification, in which we measure motion from periodic changes in local phase information albeit for labeling rather than magnification. Based on measuring local phase through spatial decomposition of each frame of the endoscopic video using complex wavelet pairs, our approach assigns segmentation labels by detecting regions exhibiting temporal local phase changes matching the heart rate. We demonstrate how our technique is a practical solution for time-critical surgical applications by presenting quantitative and qualitative performance evaluations of our vessel detection algorithms with a retrospective study of fifteen clinical robot-assisted partial nephrectomies.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Signal and Image Computing Laboratory, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Electronic address: alborza@ece.ubc.ca.
authors.forename: Alborz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amir-Khalili
authors.affiliation: Medical Image Analysis Laboratory, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Ghassan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hamarneh
authors.affiliation: Qatar Robotic Surgery Centre, Qatar Science and Technology Park, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Jean-Marc
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Peyrat
authors.affiliation: Qatar Robotic Surgery Centre, Qatar Science and Technology Park, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Abinahed
authors.affiliation: Urology Department, Hamad General Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Osama
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Al-Alao
authors.affiliation: Qatar Robotic Surgery Centre, Qatar Science and Technology Park, Doha, Qatar; Urology Department, Hamad General Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Abdulla
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Al-Ansari
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Signal and Image Computing Laboratory, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Rafeef
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Abugharbieh
mesh_terms: D004724:Endoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D007668:Kidney / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000601:surgery; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D009392:Nephrectomy / Q000379:methods*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods; D012078:Renal Artery Obstruction / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D065287:Robotic Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D025321:Surgery, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D014741:Video Recording
keywords: Hilar Dissection; Image-guided Surgery; Motion Analysis; Robot-Assisted Partial Nephrectomy; Vessel Segmentation