Color-encoded distance for interactive focus positioning in laser microsurgery

• Published in: Optics and lasers in engineering 2016-08, Vol.83, p.71-79
• Main Authors: Schoob, Andreas, Kundrat, Dennis, Lekon, Stefan, Kahrs, Lüder A., Ortmaier, Tobias
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accuracy; Augmented reality; Endoscopes; Interactive; Laser-to-camera registration; Lasers; Manuals; Stereo vision; Surgical user interface; Tasks; Visual
• ISSN: 0143-8166; 1873-0302
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optlaseng.2016.03.002

This paper presents a real-time method for interactive focus positioning in laser microsurgery. Registration of stereo vision and a surgical laser is performed in order to combine surgical scene and laser workspace information. In particular, stereo image data is processed to three-dimensionally reconstruct observed tissue surface as well as to compute and to highlight its intersection with the laser focal range. Regarding the surgical live view, three augmented reality concepts are presented providing visual feedback during manual focus positioning. A user study is performed and results are discussed with respect to accuracy and task completion time. Especially when using color-encoded distance superimposed to the live view, target positioning with sub-millimeter accuracy can be achieved in a few seconds. Finally, transfer to an intraoperative scenario with endoscopic human in vivo and cadaver images is discussed demonstrating the applicability of the image overlay in laser microsurgery. •Three augmented reality concepts for manual laser focus positioning are proposed.•Surface reconstruction enables real-time computation if laser workspace inliers.•Visual augmentation instantly reveals misalignments of the laser focus.•Color-encoded distance enables surface positioning with submillimeter accuracy.