Improving Surgery with Multi-Spectral Imaging

viscenter — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 20:22:17 +0000

Our sense of vision tells us much of what we know about the world around us; yet the human eye is only capable of sensing a very narrow spectrum of the light it receives, in wavelengths from about 400 to 700 nm. Current research being conducted at the Vis Center is investigating the possibility that broadening the range of imaged light could greatly improve a surgeon’s ability to identify anatomical features in minimally invasive surgery, adding visual cues not even available during open surgery.

Recently at the Emerging Technology Session of the 2010 World Congress of Endoscopic Surgery hosted by the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons Matt Field, Vis Center Software Engineer, presented a poster describing a new research initiative into multi-spectral imaging. Entitled “Assessment of Multi-Spectral Imaging for Enhanced Visualization in Minimally Invasive Surgery”, the poster described early results from research with tissue samples.

The future application of this research will be to incorporate the findings of the experimental system into a prototype multi-spectral endoscope. An LED-based endoscopic light source will be modified to include these new light spectra. As this work is at a very early stage, testing will continue to conclusively determine the best possibilities for image enhancement.

Vis Center Members Present Research at the 2009 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Meeting

viscenter — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:45:38 +0000

The Da Vinci Surgical Robot

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The Da Vinci Surgical Robot

The Vis Center was well represented by members of its Information Design and Usability Lab at this year’s meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society which represents the largest professional and scholarly organization of human factors professionals in the U.S.

Attending the meeting, which was held October 19-23 in San Antonio TX, were Dr. Melody Carswell, director of the lab, and frequent research collaborators Dr. Cindy Lio of Innova Design, Shanghai, China, Dr. Gyusung Lee, of the University of Maryland Medical Center, and Dr. Martina Klein, a recent Lab post-doc and current faculty member of Texas Tech University’s Department of Psychology. Graduate students Rusty Grant and Michelle Sublette also attended the conference.

The group presented research on a variety of projects related to the development and evaluation of more usable surgical visualization tools. Dr. Klein presented evidence that the Da Vinci surgical robot’s 3D visualization capability reduces mental workload in medical students learning to use the system. Dr. Lio reported on her work in developing a novel augmented surgical display to help surgeons keep from becoming disoriented during laparoscopic surgery. Dr. Lee presented research-based recommendations for reducing both physical and mental strain during laparoscopic surgery based on changes in physical stance and postures.

Meanwhile, Rusty presented preliminary results involving a technique for estimating cognitive workload that takes advantage of our tendency to misperceive how quickly time passes when we are engaged in challenging tasks. Michelle also presented results related to the measurement of mental workload by focusing on the accuracy with which users of new visualization techniques can anticipate the difficulty of surgical tasks.

STITCH – Center For Visualization & Virtual Environments

Improving Surgery with Multi-Spectral Imaging

Vis Center Members Present Research at the 2009 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Meeting