ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the clinical feasibility and effectiveness of 3D visualization and mixed reality technique in the partial nephrectomy of renal tumor, and to evaluate its role in the communication between doctors and patients.Methods:82 patients with renal tumors confirmed by imaging examination including 33 patients in our hospital and 49 patients admitted to the Beijing Cancer Hospital from June 2018 to December 2020, all of whom were single tumors without local or distant metastasis, and in line with the indications of endoscopic partial nephrectomy, but without other systemic serious diseases. These patients were randomly divided into observation group (n=41) and control group (n=41). Both groups were scanned with 64-slice spiral CT before operation, while the CT images in the observation group were generated by DICOM data, modeled by three-dimensional reconstruction software and uploaded to mixed reality glasses for the preoperative planning, doctor-patient communication and intraoperative guidance. In this study, 82 patients underwent laparoscopic partial nephrectomy. Questionnaires and scales were used to compare the awareness of disease and/or satisfaction with 3D visual images between the two groups. The intraoperative time of tumor detection, operative time, renal heat ischemia time and intraoperative blood loss in 2 groups were recorded to evaluate preoperative planning and intraoperative guidance. In addition, the recovery time of gastrointestinal function, indwelling time of urinary catheter, indwelling time of drainage tube in operation area, length of hospital stays after surgery and pathological type, as well as serum creatinine level and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) value in patients at 6 months after operation were used to evaluate the postoperative recovery.Results:Before surgery, the concentrations of serum creatinine in patients with the observation group and control group were (66.8±17.5) μmol/L and (70.5±13.7) μmol/L, and the GFR were (40.8±7.6) ml/min and (38.9±6.8) ml/min, respectively. All the 82 cases were operated successfully. The number of correct responses of patients in the observation group and control group about basic kidney physiology, kidney anatomy and surgical plan was (5 vs.4), (2 vs.1), (7 vs.4), the difference among which was statistically significant ( P<0.05). In the observation group, the points of patients in understanding their own kidney, disease, specific surgical plan, and risk of surgical complications were 9.5±1.61, 9.3±0.84, 9.7±0.53, and 8.5±2.21 respectively. The tumor detection time was (35.2±5.6) min, the operation time was (100.2±20.1) min, and the renal warm ischemia time was (22.7±8.6) min in the observation group, which was significantly shorter than that in the control group (43.2±6.7) min, (123.2±23.50) min, (33.2±7.8) min. However, there was no significant difference in the amount of bleeding (103.2±22.8 ml vs.112.5±19.5 ml), postoperative recovery time of gastrointestinal function (1.7±0.8 d vs.1.8±1.2 d), indwelling time of urinary catheter (3.9±1.6 d vs.4.2±1.0 d), indwelling time of drainage tube in operation area (4.6±1.3 d vs.4.9±1.7 d), length of hospital stays (6.9±1.5 d vs.7.2±1.3 d), pathological type, and the changes of serum creatinine (10.1±19.0 vs.9.6±11.3) and the amplitude of GRF (19.4±9.5 vs.18.5±10.7) fluctuation in the affected side 6 months after operation (19.4±9.5 vs.18.5±10.7) ( P>0.05). Conclusions:The application of 3D visualization and mixed reality technology in preoperative planning and intraoperative guidance of partial nephrectomy could improve patients' cognitive understanding of renal anatomy, tumor characteristics and surgical operation, and make doctor-patient communication smoother. It can reduce the risk of surgery to a certain extent, reduce the renal heat ischemia and the operation time, and remove the tumor more accurately.