Abstract
Background
Computer-assisted surgery is a wide field of technologies with the potential to enable the surgeon to improve efficiency and efficacy of diagnosis, treatment, and clinical management.
Purpose
This review provides an overview of the most important new technologies and their applications.
Methods
A MEDLINE database search was performed revealing a total of 1702 references. All references were considered for information on six main topics, namely image guidance and navigation, robot-assisted surgery, human-machine interface, surgical processes and clinical pathways, computer-assisted surgical training, and clinical decision support. Further references were obtained through cross-referencing the bibliography cited in each work. Based on their respective field of expertise, the authors chose 64 publications relevant for the purpose of this review.
Conclusion
Computer-assisted systems are increasingly used not only in experimental studies but also in clinical studies. Although computer-assisted abdominal surgery is still in its infancy, the number of studies is constantly increasing, and clinical studies start showing the benefits of computers used not only as tools of documentation and accounting but also for directly assisting surgeons during diagnosis and treatment of patients. Further developments in the field of clinical decision support even have the potential of causing a paradigm shift in how patients are diagnosed and treated.
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Acknowledgments
This study has been conducted within the Transregional Collaborative Research Center (TCRC) 125 “Cognition-Guided Surgery”, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
We thank Ms. Béivin-Vanessa Pyne for reviewing the manuscript as a native speaker.
Compliance with Ethical Standards
This study has been conducted in compliance with ethical standards as set in the declaration of Helsinki. The figures supplied were conducted within our working group; detailed results are yet to be published. Informed consent was obtained for the tablet-based augmented reality experiment (Fig. 3). An animal trial (Fig. 2) has been approved by the local authorities.
Conflicts of interest
None.
Author’s contributions
Kenngott HG: study conception and design, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, and drafting of manuscript.
Wagner M: acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, and drafting of manuscript.
Nickel F: acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, and drafting of manuscript.
Wekerle AL: acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, and drafting of manuscript.
Preukschas A: acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, and drafting of manuscript.
Apitz M: acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, and drafting of manuscript.
Schulte T: acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, and drafting of manuscript.
Rempel R: acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, and drafting of manuscript
Mietkowski P: acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, and drafting of manuscript
Wagner F: acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, and drafting of manuscript
Termer A: acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, and drafting of manuscript
Beat P. Müller-Stich: study conception and design, analysis and interpretation of data, and drafting of manuscript
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Kenngott, H.G., Wagner, M., Nickel, F. et al. Computer-assisted abdominal surgery: new technologies. Langenbecks Arch Surg 400, 273–281 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00423-015-1289-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00423-015-1289-8