Implementation and Evaluation of an Augmented Reality System Supporting Minimal Invasive Interventions

Minimal invasive surgery and interventions promise a number of advantages for the patient. From the medical point of view, the biggest advantage is a reduced trauma for the patient, however at the cost of a limited view for the physician. The project MEDARPA addresses this limitation by applying Augmented Reality (AR) technology to enhance the real view of the surgeon with pre-operatively acquired medical data from CT or any other 3D imaging modality. In the last three years, a group of clinical, medical engineering and research partners, has designed and implemented a prototype of an AR-enhanced navigation support system for minimal invasive interventions, almost ready to be used in the operation theatre. It comprises of e.g. a transparent display device, called the 'AR window', a hybrid tracking system, simultaneously determining orientation and position of the display, the physician's head and instruments that are used during the intervention, an audio-visual navigation support, real-time volume rendering of medical 3D-image modalities in a compact PC-based system. The MEDARPA system has been designed to be applicable to a variety of medical scenarios. For the proof of concept cardiosurgery, radiooncology and pneumology scenarios were considered. Furthermore ergonomic constraints played a decisive role in the design of the system. The system is easy to handle, movable and easy to displace, if not needed and can be integrated smoothly into the medical intervention process. This paper gives an overview of the design of the MEDARPA system and its evaluation.