Laparoscopic surgery is minimally invasive, but it is also visually constraining. In contrast to open surgery, surgeons who work on different tasks are all limited to the same view. In a small in vitro trial conducted at Brown University, surgeons with their own views performed faster and more accurately. Researchers are now working to develop an automated system that would bring individually controllable views to the operating room — a key step to bringing the benefits of open surgery to laparoscopic surgery.

In previous research, the team of researchers described an electronic goggle system called i-LID that offered wearers a unique view from within one image that they could control simply by moving their head to look around or zoom in and out. Given a large, high-resolution image from the laparoscopic camera, software simply carved out the portions that each surgeon indicated interest in based on head movement. However, the goggles had several drawbacks – for one, goggles isolate surgeons from each other. Also, wireless transmission of the high-definition image to each pair of goggles could create latency, and while versions with wires had faster data speeds, they had the potential to be physically imposing in the close quarters of surgery. The team received a grant from the Rhode Island Foundation to develop an improved version of this system that would bring individually controllable views to the operating room.

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Also: Learn about a method of reducing stray energy burns in laparoscopic surgery.