Localization of liver tumors in freehand 3D laparoscopic ultrasound

The aim of minimally invasive laparoscopic liver interventions is to completely resect or ablate tumors while minimizing the trauma caused by the operation. However, restrictions such as limited field of view and reduced depth perception can hinder the surgeon's capabilities to precisely localize the tumor. Typically, preoperative data is acquired to find the tumor(s) and plan the surgery. Nevertheless, determining the precise position of the tumor is required, not only before but also during the operation. The standard use of ultrasound in hepatic surgery is to explore the liver and identify tumors. Meanwhile, the surgeon mentally builds a 3D context to localize tumors. This work aims to upgrade the use of ultrasound in laparoscopic liver surgery. We propose an approach to segment and localize tumors intra-operatively in 3D ultrasound. We reconstruct a 3D laparoscopic ultrasound volume containing a tumor. The 3D image is then preprocessed and semi-automatically segmented using a level set algorithm. During the surgery, for each subsequent reconstructed volume, a fast update of the tumor position is accomplished via registration using the previously segmented and localized tumor as a prior knowledge. The approach was tested on a liver phantom with artificial tumors. The tumors were localized in approximately two seconds with a mean error of less than 0.5 mm. The strengths of this technique are that it can be performed intra-operatively, it helps the surgeon to accurately determine the location, shape and volume of the tumor, and it is repeatable throughout the operation.