Cutting Edge: 3D Tech Boosts Surgical Precision

Moviegoers aren't the only ones wearing 3D glasses nowadays — doctors could benefit from them, too, a new study suggests.

In the past, doctors have been skeptical of using 3D technology in their work, preferring to rely on their own experience. But that may change, thanks to improved 3D glasses and even glasses-free systems. Funded by industry sponsors, the study of 50 surgeons using the new technology showed improvements in surgical precision and speed.

3D Laparascopy

"While the technology still requires some fine-tuning, technology without the need to wear special glasses will increase the popularity of 3D systems in operating rooms," study leader Ulrich Leiner of the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) in Berlin said in a statement.

3DLivesurgery offers products and services to record surgeries in 3D

Improvements to screens are driving developments in 3D technology. High-definition screens are already available. The next step is ultra-high definition, with a sixteenfold improvement in resolution, according to study co-author Michael Witte of HHI.

To evaluate whether new 3D technology was ready for hospital applications, researchers invited surgeons from the Klinikum rechts der Isar's surgical hospital to test it out. A leading endoscope manufacturer and an international display company funded the study.

The surgeons tested four different systems: 2D, 3D with glasses, 3D without glasses and a mirror-based 3D system. The glasses-free model relied on an eye-tracking camera system that delivered separate images to each eye, creating a 3D effect in the brain.

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The new light 3D laparoscopy without robotics

From being safer to more cost effective, read on to know about 3D laparoscopy – a new technique for uterus associated surgeries

3D laparoscopy is safe, creates fewer complications, is cost-effective, reduces surgery time and even the number of days the patient needs to spend in the hospital post surgery. It also gives the surgeon, performing an invasive procedure, a far better field of vision, thus improving the precision and accuracy of the surgery.

3D Laprascopy Surgery

How to produce 3D surgical videos

 After performing over 25,000 laparoscopic surgeries, laparoscopic surgeon Dr Prakash Trivedi hails 3D laparoscopy as a beneficial advancement in the field of surgery. It could be a boon, for patients who have had a previous C-section, have fibroids or are high risk patients suffering from obesity, diabetes, blood pressure.

Dr Trivedi successfully performed 3D laparoscopic surgery on two patients at the Total Women’s Health Care Center, Mumbai. Parineeta Seth, 40 had been suffering from menstrual migraine, cramps, vomiting, and nausea for over a year and was mistakenly diagnosed as suffering from fibroids, when she actually had adenomysis and had to remove her uterus. “I was really worried about it but the 3D laparoscopy technique made it so simple. My sister, who underwent a hysterectomy, took a month to recover but just a week later, I don’t have any pain or discomfort and am already at work,” she says. Dr Trivedi adds, “Its just like doing an open surgery, but with the benefits of minimal invasion. Even suturing with 3D laparoscopy is so clear and simple.”

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Panasonic introduces medical-grade 3D monitor for surgery

SECAUCUS, NJ – Panasonic, a provider of professional healthcare display and monitor solutions, today announced a new 3D medical-grade 32” class monitor.

The new monitor, the EJ-MDA32U-K, is fully compliant with medical equipment standards, delivers 2D and 3D image quality and can display multiple images from various sources at once, according to Panasonic officials.


These combined features, paired with Panasonic’s renowned reliability, make the new monitor ideal for use in the surgical bubble, they said in a press release.

“To improve patient outcomes, there is an ever increasing reliance on technology in the surgical suite,” said Scott Thie, director of Healthcare, Panasonic System Communications Company of North America. “Although this technology has many benefits, it can also create a cluttered environment."

The EJ-MDA32U-K helps to improve the surgical experience by having a large screen, HD image that can be clearly viewed by all clinicians, while also providing flexibility that helps to reduce clutter, according to Thie. “By allowing up to three images to be displayed on the screen at once – from multiple input sources – and by delivering high quality 3D and 2D HD images, we offer a single device that addresses multiple needs in the surgical suite,” he said.

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World's First 3D Surface Anatomy Guide

Thursday, 8th December 2011 The world’s first 3D surface anatomy guide for medical and physiotherapy students, surgical trainees and artists has been developed in Ireland through a unique collaboration between anatomists, artists and engineers. Launched today in the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) in Dublin, the two year project, funded by Science Foundation Ireland and the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI), has resulted in an on-line 3D guide which shows the motions of muscles and the sites of structures from the surface inwards.  It shows how, by using movement, colour, illustration and 3D technology, anatomists, engineers and artists can collaborate to teach the body from the outside in.

The project combined artistic representation, engineering expertise and anatomical accuracy into a four hour teaching programme and will shortly be part of the curriculum/training for medical students in Dublin, Bahrain and Kuala Lumpur.  Computer aided learning is an elegant and cost-effective solution for medical students as it gives them  access to a 3D representation of the human body and helps mitigate the traditional constraints of medical education such as a lack of willing live models.


Stereo-3D or stereoscopic photography was used to create the footage for the project but the technology has been around for a long time.  Stereoscopic pictures of Dublin can be found in the National Library dating from 1865. The technology has been through several reincarnations in the past but it is only in the last five years that the technology has caught up with the idea as everyone knows from the explosion of 3D content on the big screen.

“What is less known is that it is still hard to shoot things in stereo-3D. The crew needs to work with two cameras mechanically and electronically coupled to each other. Quite aside from the physical problems of manipulating the camera rig, it turns out that the camera sensors can never be the same. This is bad for stereo-3D viewing and tends to make people feel ill. The engineering challenges centre on fixing the pictures in post-production using signal processing algorithms designed by the Sigmedia group at Trinity,” said Anil Kokaram, associate professor at the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Trinity College.

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Titan Medical Inc. Completes Amadeus Composer(TM) Pre-Production Console and Video Tower

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Dec. 1, 2011) - Titan Medical Inc. ("the Company") (TSX VENTURE:TMD) announced that it has completed prototypes of the pre-production Surgeon Console and Video Tower, and Beta Patient Cart of its Amadeus Composer™ platform. The pre-production versions of the Surgeon Console and Video 3D Tower are in the final phases of development and Titan plans to move forward to final design for manufacture and testing.

Craig Leon, Chief Executive Officer of Titan Medical Inc., commented, "I am extremely pleased with the efforts and dedication of our engineering team and development partners in completing the Console and Video Tower of Amadeus Composer™ on schedule. This marks a significant advancement in Titan Medical's development cycle. We are now committed to proceeding to our next major milestone of tissue and animal feasibility studies by the middle of 2012."

Amadeus Composer™ is a next generation surgical system that has a uniquely designed external robot and flexible instruments which allow surgeons to overcome constraints of surgical procedures in small to medium spaces. Amadeus Composer™ is designed for use in robotic surgery procedures such as thoracic (lung), ENT (ear, nose and throat), general surgical procedures as well as other surgical cases that are performed in very small and tight spaces. Other elements that make up the Amadeus™ Robotic Surgical System include communications, simulation systems and haptics.

About Titan Medical Inc.

Titan Medical Inc. is a Canadian public company (TSX VENTURE:TMD) focused on the development and commercialization of robotic surgical technologies. The Company is currently developing Amadeus Composer™, a surgical system that has a uniquely designed external robot and flexible instruments, and allows surgeons to overcome constraints of surgical procedures in small to medium spaces. Amadeus Maestro™, the Company's next generation 4-armed robotic surgical system with advanced communication and training, utilizes the Titan True Touch Technology™ and is targeted to surgical procedures in large spaces. For more information, visit the Company's website at www.titanmedicalinc.com.

3D Full HD Broadcast from a Robotic Surgery

Experts from CESNET and the Masaryk Hospital in Ústí nad Labem, on Thursday 10 June, performed a unique real-time 3D Full HD stereo broadcast of a kidney surgery performed by a da Vinci robot.

Images from the surgery travelled from the surgery room at the Hospital to the Prague CESNET headquarters. The online broadcast was conducted over a 10 gigabit link, which is a part of the standard infrastructure of the national research network CESNET2. During the broadcast, the data stream reached transfer speeds of approximately 2.5 Gbps and the signal delay along the transmission stream was less than 1 ms, enabling a truly real-time broadcast.

The special broadcast equipment was developed by CESNET as a part of its research project Optical National Research Network and its New Applications.

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