Exploring the Benefits of Holographic Mixed Reality for Preoperative Planning with 3D Medical Images

Abstract

Today surgeons usually prepare for operations by inspecting sets of 2D radiological images. This means that they need to form a 3D mental model from 2D data. The lack of depth perception afforded by 2D images is an issue especially in complex cases. New and improved approaches are therefore an area of active research. Recent advances in both holographic mixed reality and 3D visualization techniques represent an interesting opportunity to address this issue. The article describes our ongoing efforts to support surgeons in preoperative planning by developing a medical volume viewer for Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 headset. The app combines the state-of-the art image quality of cinematic volume rendering with the excellent depth perception in holographic headsets and will allow new ways of planning surgeries and interacting with medical volumes.