A brief history of minimally invasive plastic surgery.

It could be argued that a basic principle establishing plastic surgery as a distinct specialty always has been minimal invasive surgery. Although perhaps lagging behind the other surgical specialties specifically in adopting the surgical endoscope, this merely is a new tool to better achieve just that objective. Outcome enhancements initially predominated in aesthetic applications, but widespread use also in reconstructive endeavors has proved that there is indeed today a broad role for minimally invasive plastic surgery

Improving Rigid 3-D Calibration for Robotic Surgery

Autonomy is the next frontier of research in robotic surgery and its aim is to improve the quality of surgical procedures in the next future. One fundamental requirement for autonomy is advanced perception capability through vision sensors. In this article, we propose a novel calibration technique for a surgical scenario with a da Vinci Research Kit (dVRK) robot. Camera and robotic arms calibration are necessary to precise position and emulate expert surgeon. The novel calibration technique is tailored for RGB-D cameras. Different tests performed on relevant use cases prove that we significantly improve precision and accuracy with respect to state of the art solutions for similar devices on a surgical-size setups. Moreover, our calibration method can be easily extended to standard surgical endoscope used in real surgical scenario

Virtual reality training and assessment in laparoscopic rectum surgery

Background: Virtual-reality (VR) based simulation techniques offer an efficient and low cost alternative to conventional surgery training. This article describes a VR training and assessment system in laparoscopic rectum surgery. Methods: To give a realistic visual performance of interaction between membrane tissue and surgery tools, a generalized cylinder based collision detection and a multi-layer mass-spring model are presented. A dynamic assessment model is also designed for hierarchy training evaluation. Results: With this simulator, trainees can operate on the virtual rectum with both visual and haptic sensation feedback simultaneously. The system also offers surgeons instructions in real time when improper manipulation happens. The simulator has been tested and evaluated by ten subjects. Conclusions: This prototype system has been verified by colorectal surgeons through a pilot study. They believe the visual performance and the tactile feedback are realistic. It exhibits the potential to effectively improve the surgical skills of trainee surgeons and significantly shorten their learning curve. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Intraoperative tissue classification methods in orthopedic and neurological surgeries: A systematic review

Accurate tissue differentiation during orthopedic and neurological surgeries is critical, given that such surgeries involve operations on or in the vicinity of vital neurovascular structures and erroneous surgical maneuvers can lead to surgical complications. By now, the number of emerging technologies tackling the problem of intraoperative tissue classification methods is increasing. Therefore, this systematic review paper intends to give a general overview of existing technologies. The review was done based on the PRISMA principle and two databases: PubMed and IEEE Xplore. The screening process resulted in 60 full-text papers. The general characteristics of the methodology from extracted papers included data processing pipeline, machine learning methods if applicable, types of tissues that can be identified with them, phantom used to conduct the experiment, and evaluation results. This paper can be useful in identifying the problems in the current status of the state-of-the-art intraoperative tissue classification methods and designing new enhanced techniques

Reconstruction of Three-Dimensional Object from Two-Dimensional Images by Utilizing Distance Regularized Level Algorithm and Mesh Object Generation

           ان عملية بناء نموذج ثلاثي الأبعاد من الصور هي طريقة مفيدة للغاية لتشكيل المجسمات باستخدام طريقة الصور الواقعية خاصة والتي يمكن ان تستخدم في العديد من المجالات مثل المجالات الصناعية والمجالات الطبية وغيرها. في المجال الطبي، ان تطبيق الماسح ثلاثي الأبعاد مثل الماسح الضوئي ثلاثي الأبعاد المستخدم لإعادة بناء الأنف الداخلي للجراحة التجميلية أو الماسح الضوئي ثلاثي الأبعاد المستخدم لإعادة بناء قناة الأذن لغرض تصنيع جهاز مساعد السمع، والتي تحتاج إلى دقة عالية في التفاصيل والقياس والذي يمثل مشكلة رئيسية يجب وضعها في الاعتبار عند تصميم أجهزة النمذجة ثلاثية الابعاد، كما ان الكلفة وإمكانية التنقل وسهولة الاستخدام هي القضية الثانية التي يجب أن تأخذها بعين الاعتبار. تم في هذا العمل اعداد نهج نظري وتجريبي لتصميم ماسح ثلاثي الابعاد للمجسمات ذو كلفة منخفضة. اقترحنا نظام إعادة بناء القناة ثلاثية الأبعاد (الأذن أو الأنف) استنادًا إلى الصور ثنائية الأبعاد المستخدمة لإعادة إنشاء كائن ثلاثي الأبعاد. تم استخدام منظار داخلي منخفض التكلفة مع برنامج مقترح يستند إلى خوارزمية تقسيم مجموعة المستوى المقياس المعياري من أجل إعادة بناء قناة الأذن أو الأنف من الصورة التي التقطتها المنظار الداخلي في الزمن الحقيقي. أظهرت النتائج دقة جيدة لتفاصيل القناة وقياساتها والتي تعود الى استخدام نجاح خوارزمية إعادة البناء وبرامج إعادة البناء المقترحة والتي انتجت مجسم شبكي ثلاثية الأبعاد جيدة للقناة.Three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction from images is a most beneficial method of object regeneration by using a photo-realistic way that can be used in many fields. For industrial fields, it can be used to visualize the cracks within alloys or walls. In medical fields, it has been used as 3D scanner to reconstruct some human organs such as internal nose for plastic surgery or to reconstruct ear canal for fabricating a hearing aid device, and others. These applications need high accuracy details and measurement that represent the main issue which should be taken in consideration, also the other issues are cost, movability, and ease of use which should be taken into consideration. This work has presented an approach for design and constructed a low-cost three-dimensional object scanner. We have proposed a 3D canal reconstruction system (ear or nose) based on using 2D images for reconstruction 3D object. A low-cost EndoScope with a proposed program based upon utilized the segmentation algorithm type “Distance Regularized Level” to segment active edges from images then generate mesh object in order to generate 3D structure for small canals or cracks. The results show good accuracy of the reconstructed object in both details and their measurements which are related to the success in the reconstruction of algorithm that yields good three-dimensional meshes object. &nbsp

The Surgical Management of Acromegaly

Acromegaly is the condition produced by one of the benign tumors of the pituitary gland. These tumors produce a variety of disorders affecting many parts of the body, producing side effects related to abnormal hormone function. The dramatic appearance of the acromegalic giant has attracted attention over the ages. This chapter summarizes the history of the recognition and ultimate diagnosis of acromegaly. The biological and physiological elements are described. The methods of diagnosis and management are elaborated. Although the focus of the chapter is on the surgical approach for treatment, alternative strategies are also discussed, along with the outcomes of management for patients and the restoration of quality of life as a primary goal

A generic scope actuation system for flexible endoscopes

Background: A scope actuation system assists a surgeon in steering a scope for navigating an operative field during an interventional or diagnostic procedure. Each system is tailored for a specific surgical procedure. The development of a generic scope actuation system could assist various laparoscopic and endoscopic procedures. This has the potential to reduce the deployment and maintenance costs for a hospital, making it more accessible for clinical usage. Methods: A modular actuation system (for maneuvering rigid laparoscopes) was adapted to enable incorporation of flexible endoscopes. The design simplifies the installation and disassembly processes. User studies were conducted to assess the ability of the system to focus onto a diagnostic area, and to navigate during a simulated esophagogastroduodenoscopy procedure. During the studies, the endoscope was maneuvered with (robotic mode) and without (manual mode) the actuation system to navigate the endoscope’s focus on a predefined track. Results: Results show that the robotic mode performed better than the manual mode on all the measured performance parameters including (a) the total duration to traverse a track, (b) the percentage of time spent outside a track while traversing, and (c) the number of times the scope focus shifts outside the track. Additionally, robotic mode also reduced the perceived workload based on the NASA-TLX scale. Conclusions: The proposed scope actuation system enhances the maneuverability of flexible endoscopes. It also lays the groundwork for future development of modular and generic scope assistant systems that can be used in both laparoscopic and endoscopic procedures