Video-based assistance system for training in minimally invasive surgery

Abstract

In this paper, the development of an assisting system for laparoscopic surgical training is presented. With this system, we expect to facilitate the training process at the first stages of training in laparoscopic surgery and to contribute to an objective evaluation of surgical skills. To achieve this, we propose the insertion of multimedia contents and outlines of work adapted to the level of experience of trainees and the detection of the movements of the laparoscopic instrument into the monitored image. A module to track the instrument is implemented focusing on the tip of the laparoscopic tool. This tracking method does not need the presence of artificial marks or special colours to distinguish the instruments. Similarly, the system has another method based on visual tracking to localize support multimedia content in a stable position of the field of vision. Therefore, this position of the support content is adapted to the movements of the camera or the working area. Experimental results are presented to show the feasibility of the proposed system for assisting in laparoscopic surgical training.

Key words::

• Laparoscopy
• laparoscopic instrument tracking
• training
• visual tracking
• video-based system

Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by grant PRI07B132 from Plan Regional de Investigación, Consejería de Economía, Comercio e Innovación, Junta de Extremadura and the European Social Fund. The authors are especially grateful to Ms Elena Crespo for her technical assistance.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.