Video-based 3D reconstruction, laparoscope localization and deformation recovery for abdominal minimally invasive surgery: a survey.

BACKGROUND: The intra-operative three-dimensional (3D) structure of tissue organs and laparoscope motion are the basis for many tasks in computer-assisted surgery (CAS), such as safe surgical navigation and registration of pre-operative and intra-operative data for soft tissues. METHODS: This article provides a literature review on laparoscopic video-based intra-operative techniques of 3D surface reconstruction, laparoscope localization and tissue deformation recovery for abdominal minimally invasive surgery (MIS). RESULTS: This article introduces a classification scheme based on the motions of a laparoscope and the motions of tissues. In each category, comprehensive discussion is provided on the evolution of both classic and state-of-the-art methods. CONCLUSIONS: Video-based approaches have many advantages, such as providing intra-operative information without introducing extra hardware to the current surgical platform. However, an extensive discussion on this important topic is still lacking. This survey paper is therefore beneficial for researchers in this field. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A wireless robot for networked laparoscopy.

State-of-the-art laparoscopes for minimally invasive abdominal surgery are encumbered by cabling for power, video, and light sources. Although these laparoscopes provide good image quality, they interfere with surgical instruments, occupy a trocar port, require an assistant in the operating room to control the scope, have a very limited field of view, and are expensive. MARVEL is a wireless Miniature Anchored Robotic Videoscope for Expedited Laparoscopy that addresses these limitations by providing an inexpensive in vivo wireless camera module (CM) that eliminates the surgical-tool bottleneck experienced by surgeons in current laparoscopic endoscopic single-site (LESS) procedures. The MARVEL system includes 1) multiple CMs that feature a wirelessly controlled pan/tilt camera platform, which enable a full hemisphere field of view inside the abdominal cavity, wirelessly adjustable focus, and a multiwavelength illumination control system; 2) a master control module that provides a near-zero latency video wireless communications link, independent wireless control for multiple MARVEL CMs, digital zoom; and 3) a wireless human-machine interface that gives the surgeon full control over CM functionality. The research reported in this paper is the first step in developing a suite of semiautonomous wirelessly controlled and networked robotic cyber-physical devices to enable a paradigm shift in minimally invasive surgery and other domains such as wireless body area networks.

Virtually transparent epidermal imagery for laparo-endoscopic single-site surgery.

This paper presents a novel design, and prototype implementation, of a virtually transparent epidermal imagery (VTEI) system for laparo-endoscopic single-site (LESS) surgery. The system uses a network of multiple, micro wireless cameras and multiview mosaicing technique to obtain a panoramic view of the surgery area. This view provides visual feedback to surgeons with large viewing angles and areas of interest so that the surgeons can improve the safety of surgical procedures by being better aware of where the surgical instruments are relative to tissue and organs. The prototype VTEI system also projects the generated panoramic view on the abdomen area to create a transparent display effect that mimics equivalent, but higher risk, open-cavity surgeries.

Improving the reliability of wireless body area networks.

In this paper we propose a highly reliable wireless body area network (WBAN) that provides increased throughput and avoids single points of failure. Such networks improve upon current WBANs by taking advantage of a new technology, Cooperative Network Coding (CNC). Using CNC in wireless body area network to support real-time applications is an attractive solution to combat packet loss, reduce latency due to retransmissions, avoid single points of failure, and improve the probability of successful recovery of the information at the destination. In this paper, we have extended Cooperative Network Coding, from its original configuration (one-to-one) to many-to-many as in multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) systems. Cooperative Network Coding results in increased throughput and network reliability because of the cooperation of the nodes in transmitting coded combination packets across spatially distinct paths to the information sinks.