Projector Based Intraoperative Visualization of Surgical Planning Data

While an increasing number of operation planning systems enable surgeons to preoperatively define and plan complex surgical interventions, providing these planning data intraoperatively in a reasonable way is still a challenging task. We have developed a new system using projector based augmented reality for the intraoperative visualization of preoperatively defined surgical planning data. Projector based augmented reality in medical applications represents a new field of research and yet shows results that are superior to techniques based on head mounted displays. Moreover, the projector is not only used for visualization, but also for registration of the patient without the usage of invasive fiducial techniques as e.g. screw markers or frames. Furthermore, patient movements are observed by tracking its position and taken into account for projection. Recent results showed an achieved accuracy of +/2 mm and an update frequency of 1.6 Hz which roughly meets clinical demands.