Study on the Development of Augmented-Reality Navigation System for Transsphenoidal Surgery

In this study, we developed an augmented-reality (AR) navigation system that can assist surgeons during transsphenoidal surgery, including identification of the tumor site. Since transsphenoidal surgery is performed by looking at an endoscopic image, thus requiring situational judgment on the image, transsphenoidal surgery poses greater challenges with regard to grasping the positional relationships between the tumor and the organs compared with normal operations. The proposed system is expected to help surgeons understand the conditions surrounding the operating field, by intraoperatively displaying a real-time overlaid 3D model based on preoperative MRI images of the patient.