Touchless control module for diagnostic images at the surgery room using the Leap Motion system and 3D Slicer software

Abstract

During surgical procedures, it is important that the personnel (surgeon, residents, or assistants) interact with the patient avoiding any physical contact with equipment and materials that might have not been appropriately sterilized. This is done in order to prevent patient’s infections and complications after surgery. With the increased availability of diagnostic images, this technology has become indispensable in operating rooms but to maintain asepsis control of computer equipment on which the visualization programs are executed is not always possible, hindering access to personnel to information contained in the images. This paper describes the development of a system that allows the personnel to manipulate a medical imaging display program using gestures, avoiding the surgeon or the nurse to have a direct contact with the computer. The system, which requires a computer with 3D-Slicer software and Leap Motion (LM) device, allows through gestures made with the hands, to access the basic operations such as the movement between sections of a volume, to change the image size and the anatomical plane visualization; operations that are essential to the surgeon for the spatial location and decision making.

Keywords

• diagnostic imaging
• human-computer interaction
• image guided neurosurgery
• medical informatics computing
• positioning system