Laser-pointing endoscope system for intra-operative 3D geometric registration

Precise measurements of geometry should accompany robotic equipment in operating theatres, for greatest advantage. For deforming organs, including liver, intraoperative geometric measurements play an essential role in computer surgery in addition to pre-operative geometric information from CT, MRI and so on. We developed a laser-pointing endoscope using an optical galvano scanner and a 955 fps high-speed camera. The laser-pointing endoscope system acquires and visualizes the shape of the area of interest in a flash of time. Applications of the system also include the touch screen interface for nonmaster-slave operation of surgical robots, where the 3D coordinates of the touched point on screen are measured by the system and guide a robot. Results of in-vivo experiments on a liver of pig verify the effectiveness of the proposed system.