Autonomous Coordinated Control of the Light Guide for Positioning in Vitreoretinal Surgery

TL;DR

This paper presents an automated control strategy for the light guide in vitreoretinal surgery, enhancing instrument positioning accuracy by maintaining the shadow within the microscopic view through simulation and experimental validation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel automated control method for the light guide that improves surgical instrument positioning without relying on extensive image processing.

Findings

Effective in a 700-point retinal grid in phantom experiments

Successfully integrated with image processing for precise tip positioning

Demonstrated in simulations and real experiments

Abstract

Vitreoretinal surgery is challenging even for expert surgeons owing to the delicate target tissues and the diminutive workspace in the retina. In addition to improved dexterity and accuracy, robot assistance allows for (partial) task automation. In this work, we propose a strategy to automate the motion of the light guide with respect to the surgical instrument. This automation allows the instrument's shadow to always be inside the microscopic view, which is an important cue for the accurate positioning of the instrument in the retina. We show simulations and experiments demonstrating that the proposed strategy is effective in a 700-point grid in the retina of a surgical phantom. Furthermore, we integrated the proposed strategy with image processing and succeeded in positioning the surgical instrument's tip in the retina, relying on only the robot's geometric information and microscopic images.