Computer vision distance measurement from endoscopic sequences: prospective evaluation in laparoscopic ventral hernia repair

Computer-assisted 3D bowel length measurement for quantitative laparoscopy

BACKGROUND

This study aimed at developing and evaluating a tool for computer-assisted 3D bowel length measurement (BMS) to improve objective measurement in minimally invasive surgery. Standardization and quality of surgery as well as its documentation are currently limited by lack of objective intraoperative measurements. To solve this problem, we developed BMS as a clinical application of Quantitative Laparoscopy (QL).

METHODS

BMS processes images from a conventional 3D laparoscope. Computer vision algorithms are used to measure the distance between laparoscopic instruments along a 3D reconstruction of the bowel surface. Preclinical evaluation was performed in phantom, ex vivo porcine, and in vivo porcine models. A bowel length of 70 cm was measured with BMS and compared to a manually obtained ground truth. Afterwards 70 cm of bowel (ground truth) was measured and compared to BMS.

RESULTS

Ground truth was 66.1 ± 2.7 cm (relative error + 5.8%) in phantom, 65.8 ± 2.5 cm (relative error + 6.4%) in ex vivo, and 67.5 ± 6.6 cm (relative error + 3.7%) in in vivo porcine evaluation when 70 cm was measured with BMS. Using 70 cm of bowel, BMS measured 75.0 ± 2.9 cm (relative error + 7.2%) in phantom and 74.4 ± 2.8 cm (relative error + 6.3%) in ex vivo porcine evaluation. After thorough preclinical evaluation, BMS was successfully used in a patient undergoing laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass for morbid obesity.

CONCLUSIONS

QL using BMS was shown to be feasible and was successfully translated from studies on phantom, ex vivo, and in vivo porcine bowel to a clinical feasibility study.

Integrated Multipoint-Laser Endoscopic Airway Measurements by Transoral Approach

Objectives. Optical and technical characteristics usually do not allow objective endoscopic distance measurements. So far no standardized method for endoscopic distance measurement is available. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of transoral airway measurements with a multipoint-laser endoscope. Methods. The semirigid endoscope includes a multipoint laser measurement system that projects 49 laser points (wavelength 639 nm, power < 5 mW) into the optical axis of the endoscopic view. Distances, areas, and depths can be measured in real-time. Transoral endoscopic airway measurements were performed on nine human cadavers, which were correlated with CT measurements. Results. The preliminary experiment showed an optimum distance between the endoscope tip and the object of 5 to 6 cm. There was a mean measurement error of 3.26% ± 2.53%. A Spearman correlation coefficient of 0.95 (p = 0.01) was calculated for the laryngeal measurements and of 0.93 (p < 0.01) for the tracheal measurements compared to the CT. Using the Bland-Altman-Plot, the 95% limits of agreement for the laryngeal measurements were satisfactory: −0.76 and 0.93. Conclusions. Integrated multipoint-laser endoscopic measurement is a promising technical supplement, with potential use in diagnostic endoscopy and transoral endoscopic surgery in daily practice.