Mobile laser projection in computer assisted neurosurgery

Neurosurgery is one of the key areas for computer-assisted navigation. By providing an intuitive visualization and feedback to the operator, augmented reality has the potential to provide improved clinical workflows and patient outcomes. In this work, a mobile augmented reality system for surgical neuronavigation is presented, allowing for a direct projection of anatomical information on both planar and nonplanar surfaces. The system consists of a tracked mobile laser projector, integrated within a navigation system, providing registered patient surface and image data. Using this setup, image data can be corrected for distortions and displayed accurately on the body surface in relation to the patient.We present the overall system with an efficient distortion correction, and evaluate the accuracy with a series of experiments for point and surface projection errors, as well as the general clinical applicability. The system is demonstrated for the projection of craniotomy incision lines and general image data directly onto the surface of a human skull model, where an average error of 1.04mm shows a sufficient accuracy with respect to the clinical application.