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The eyeglass-mounted display device can be an interesting tool to assist surgery progress smoothly and safely.
FREMONT, CA: An operating room can be a crowded place. In addition to surgical devices and personnel, several intraoperative support systems, including navigation systems, aid the surgeon in performing complicated surgeries. Navigation systems are essential when surgery is minimally invasive. However, their placement in the room may not be completely convenient to the surgeon. Fluoroscopy is a kind of medical imaging that creates real-time moving X-ray images that visualize a patient's bone anatomy. In minimally invasive spine surgery, fluoroscopy provides the surgeon with a clear view of where and how to affix surgical screws, plates, and other spinal instrumentation.
Two surgeon-researchers tests a device that, when attached to eyeglasses, can display fluoroscopic images leveraged for surgical guidance directly to the surgeon. Without such a device, the surgeon must get this guidance by repeatedly looking across the operating room to a video monitor. This eyeglass display device allows the surgeon to focus on operative tasks efficiently, resulting in a shorter length of surgery and less radiation exposure. Detailed results of this study can be found in "Smart glasses display device for fluoroscopically guided minimally invasive spinal instrumentation surgery: a preliminary study’ an article published today in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine.
When fluoroscopy is utilized, spine surgeons must turn their heads repeatedly to view both the surgical field and the fluoroscopy monitor, which usually stands several feet away from the operating table. This constant movement can be distracting for surgeons. Wearing a device that displays fluoroscopic images to the surgeons during insertion and attachment of spinal instrumentation could enhance minimally invasive spine surgery safety. In addition to fluoroscopic images, several other images, like those obtained before surgery and those from vital sign monitors, neurophysiological monitors, computer navigation monitors, and endoscopic monitors, can be displayed on the wearable screen.
