Evaluation of Resection Proposals for Liver Surgery Planning

Modern software for surgery planning allows for definition of virtual resections within the liver. Thus, surgeons can simulate different resection strategies and assess the associated surgical risk preoperatively. Until now, it was impossible to measure the quality of different resection plans objectively. The choice for the optimal resection strategy was based on subjective judgment acquired by other examinations and subsequent risk analyses. We present a fast method for quality assessment of resection proposals with respect to surgical risk factors such as safety margin, remnant volume, remnant perfusion, surface curvature, and resection area. Our new method has been integrated into planning software used in the daily routine. The results from a preliminary user study confirm that the interactive quality feedback is beneficial for precise liver surgery planning.