Neural patient-specific 3D–2D registration in laparoscopic liver resection

Augmented reality guidance in laparoscopic liver resection requires the registration of a preoperative 3D model to the intraoperative 2D image. However, 3D–2D liver registration poses challenges owing to the liver’s flexibility, particularly in the limited visibility conditions of laparoscopy. Although promising, the current registration methods are computationally expensive and often necessitate manual initialisation.

The first neural model predicting the registration (NM) is proposed, represented as 3D model deformation coefficients, from image landmarks. The strategy consists in training a patient-specific model based on synthetic data generated automatically from the patient’s preoperative model. A liver shape modelling technique, which further reduces time complexity, is also proposed.

The NM method was evaluated using the target registration error measure, showing an accuracy on par with existing methods, all based on numerical optimisation. Notably, NM runs much faster, offering the possibility of achieving real-time inference, a significant step ahead in this field.

The proposed method represents the first neural method for 3D–2D liver registration. Preliminary experimental findings show comparable performance to existing methods, with superior computational efficiency. These results suggest a potential to deeply impact liver registration techniques.