APPLICATION OF WEARABLE AUGMENTED REALITY TO AID PERCUTANEOUS PROCEDURES IN SPINE SURGERY

Aim of the study was the evaluation of the efficacy of the use of a new wearable AR video see-throught system based on Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) to guide the position of a working cannula into the vertebral body through a transpedicular approach without the use X-Ray images guidance.We describe a head mounted stereoscopic video see-through display that allows the augmentation of video frames acquired by two cameras with the rendering of patient specific 3D models obtained on the basis of pre-operative radiological volumetric images. The system does not employ any external tracker to detect movements of the user or of the patient. User's head movements and the consistent alignment of the virtual patient with the real one, are accomplished through machine vision methods applied on pairs of live images.Our system has been tested on an experimental setup that simulate the reaching of lumbar pedicle as in a vertebral augmentation procedure avoiding the employment of ionizing radiation. Aim of the study is t...