Touchless Interaction in Surgery

In the surgical theatre, vascular surgeons are reliant on live fluoroscopy images to guide them in inserting stents in the aorta and its major branches, yet currently, because they are scrubbed up, they rely on other people to manipulate the data. Kinect technology presents some real opportunities to allow for touchless interaction. By working with surgeons at St. Thomas’ hospital, researchers in the Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering department at King’s College London, and the School of Computing & Communications at Lancaster University, we have developed a system for manipulating 3D vascular renderings. This demonstration is just the start of the system we are developing with guidance from the surgeons.