Hybrid Simulation and Planning Platform for Cryosurgery with Microsoft HoloLens
Sara Condino,
Fabrizio Cutolo,
Nadia Cattari,
Simone Colangeli,
Paolo Domenico Parchi,
Roberta Piazza,
Alfio Damiano Ruinato,
Rodolfo Capanna,
Vincenzo Ferrari
Affiliations
Sara Condino
Information Engineering Department, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Fabrizio Cutolo
Information Engineering Department, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Nadia Cattari
EndoCAS Center, Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Simone Colangeli
Orthopaedic and Traumatology Division, Department of Translational Research and of New Surgical and Medical Technologies, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy
Paolo Domenico Parchi
Orthopaedic and Traumatology Division, Department of Translational Research and of New Surgical and Medical Technologies, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy
Roberta Piazza
EndoCAS Center, Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Alfio Damiano Ruinato
EndoCAS Center, Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Rodolfo Capanna
Orthopaedic and Traumatology Division, Department of Translational Research and of New Surgical and Medical Technologies, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy
Vincenzo Ferrari
Information Engineering Department, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Cryosurgery is a technique of growing popularity involving tissue ablation under controlled freezing. Technological advancement of devices along with surgical technique improvements have turned cryosurgery from an experimental to an established option for treating several diseases. However, cryosurgery is still limited by inaccurate planning based primarily on 2D visualization of the patient’s preoperative images. Several works have been aimed at modelling cryoablation through heat transfer simulations; however, most software applications do not meet some key requirements for clinical routine use, such as high computational speed and user-friendliness. This work aims to develop an intuitive platform for anatomical understanding and pre-operative planning by integrating the information content of radiological images and cryoprobe specifications either in a 3D virtual environment (desktop application) or in a hybrid simulator, which exploits the potential of the 3D printing and augmented reality functionalities of Microsoft HoloLens. The proposed platform was preliminarily validated for the retrospective planning/simulation of two surgical cases. Results suggest that the platform is easy and quick to learn and could be used in clinical practice to improve anatomical understanding, to make surgical planning easier than the traditional method, and to strengthen the memorization of surgical planning.
