Biocompatible 3D tracking system ‘can aid robot-assisted surgery’

Scientists have utilised a biocompatible near-infrared 3D tracking system to enhance the accuracy of robot-assisted surgery.

Developed by researchers from the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation in Washington DC, the system utilises small biocompatible near-infrared fluorescent markers and a novel fused plenoptic and near-infrared (NIR) camera tracking system.

This enables 3D tracking that can overcome blood and tissue occlusion in an uncontrolled and changeable surgical environment, due to the fact that NIR light penetrates deeper than visual light.

Operating at speeds of one mm per second, the system yielded tracking accuracies of 1.61 mm, which degraded only negligibly to 1.71 mm when the markers were covered in blood and tissue.

It is expected that this technology can improve both manual and robot-assisted surgery and interventions by offering unobstructed 3D visibility and better accuracy than is currently possible.

Senior author Dr Axel Krieger, programme lead for Smart Tools at the Sheikh Zayed Institute, said: "By enabling accurate tracking of tools and tissue in the surgical environment, this innovative work has the potential to improve many applications for manual and robot-assisted surgery."

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