Industrial research project of new real-time guiding system for surgeons' operations using Artificial Intelligence

该工业研究项目旨在验证我们现有的人工智能引导系统原型，该原型旨在指导外科医生在髓内钉（IM）手术中在更短的时间内，以更少的辐射，对患者和医务人员产生更少的风险。IM手术技术几十年来基本保持不变。髓内钉手术是一种辅助骨折愈合的手术，全球每年进行超过160万次。不幸的是，一个简单的手术需要20分钟，根据目前的方法学所涉及的猜测，可能需要长达2个小时，并且由于难以确定需要放置钉子的位置，需要大量的X光片。这些挑战可能意味着手术团队和患者暴露于辐射的增加，以及麻醉和失血增加对患者的额外风险。（每位患者约10，000英镑），我们可以减少手术时间，辐射，风险和成本，同时提高患者满意度，减少取消的手术和住院时间，清理等候名单。在与来自英国和西班牙的135名不同级别的整形外科医生交谈后，93%的人认为，进行这种手术并不总是容易的，另外97%的人认为，他们渴望在市场上看到一个新的解决方案来指导他们。这个原型使用了一系列人工智能算法，包括增强现实，跟踪算法和计算机视觉，在混合现实头戴式设备上实现，提供免提解决方案，能够以3D实时反馈方式向外科医生显示手术位置，而不是依赖于2D静态X射线。

This industrial research project aims to validate our existing Artificial Intelligence guiding system prototype aimed at guiding surgeons during Intramedullary Nailing (IM) surgeries in less time, with less radiation, generating fewer risks to both patients and medical personnel.Surgical techniques for IM have remained largely unchanged for decades. IM surgery is used to assist in the welding of broken bones and is performed over 1.6 million times per year worldwide.Unfortunately, what should be a straightforward operation taking 20 minutes, can take as long as 2 hours as per the guesswork involved in the current methodology and require a large number of X-rays due to the difficulty in identifying where the nails need to be placed. These challenges can mean increased exposure to radiation for the surgical team and patients and additional risks for patients from increased anaesthetics and blood loss.With over £500 million spent by the NHS only in intramedullary nailing surgeries every year (around £10,000 per patient), we can reduce operating time, radiation, risks and costs while increasing patient satisfaction, reducing cancelled operations and length of stay and clearing waiting lists.After talking to 135 orthopaedic surgeons, at different levels, from the UK and Spain, 93% of them agreed it is not always easy to perform this surgery and a further 97% are keen to see a new solution in the market to guide them.This prototype uses a series of Artificial Intelligence algorithms including Augmented Reality, tracking algorithms and computer vision, implemented on a Mixed Reality headset to provide a hands-free solution capable of showing surgeons in 3D real-time feedback of where to operate rather than relying on 2D static X-Ray.