ABSTRACT
It was shown in the previous chapters that the visual tracking of surgical tools can be used in the implementation of a surgeon-computer interface (SCI). e surgical tools that are being held and manipulated by the surgeon during the training or practice of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) are viewed as a 3-D computer mouse. When needed, medical information and images of the patient can be overlaid on the live image of the surgical site. e surgeon can then use the surgical tools to interact with the overlaid information. For example, it was shown that by using the surgical tools, the surgeon is able to register preoperative images of the patient by manipulating the overlaid images toward the desired location on the surgical scene given an orientation of the endoscope. is further allows the implementation of image-guided surgery using the conventional surgical setup used for MIS.
