Adaptive Surgical Data Overlays Below a Distraction Threshold
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing surgical systems lack effective methods to manage and prioritize the vast amount of visual and sensory information during a surgical procedure, leading to potential distractions and inefficiencies for the surgical team.
Innovation Solution
A surgical system that includes an imaging device, display, and control system to overlay, adjust, and prioritize information based on surgical procedures, user inputs, and situational awareness, using augmented reality to enhance the surgical field with computer-generated sensory feedback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If comprehensive surgical information is overlaid on the livestream, then information completeness is improved, but surgical team distraction increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and prioritizes only the most relevant surgical information for overlay display, separating critical data from comprehensive data. The control system selectively extracts information based on surgical events and user preferences, displaying only essential overlays during the procedure while maintaining access to complete information in the surgical record.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions or aspects of information display are assigned different qualities based on their importance. Critical safety information receives prominent placement and higher visibility, while less critical information is minimized or placed in peripheral areas. The overlay density and detail vary locally across the display based on surgical context.
2Loss of information
If multiple types of surgical data are displayed simultaneously, then data availability is improved, but visual clutter increases
Solution Approach 1:
Surgical information is segmented into distinct categories (e.g., patient vitals, instrument status, surgical step guidance, alerts) and displayed in organized sections. Each data type is separated into its own visual group or layer, allowing the surgical team to quickly locate specific information without being overwhelmed by a monolithic display of all data simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The display configuration is dynamic and adapts based on the current surgical event, procedure type, and user preferences. Information categories that are currently relevant are expanded and prioritized, while less relevant categories are minimized or hidden. The system dynamically reconfigures the overlay hierarchy as the surgical procedure progresses through different stages.
3Loss of information
If detailed surgical information is provided, then situational awareness is improved, but cognitive load increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary processing and organization of surgical information before presentation to the surgical team. Data is pre-filtered, pre-formatted, and pre-prioritized based on expected surgical needs and historical patterns. This preliminary organization reduces the cognitive load during the actual surgical procedure by presenting information in an already-optimized format rather than requiring real-time analysis of raw data.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms to monitor surgical team interaction with the display and adjust information presentation accordingly. If certain information types are frequently accessed or if attention metrics indicate cognitive overload, the system automatically adjusts the level of detail or reorganizes the display to reduce cognitive load while maintaining situational awareness.
Data Source
AI summary
A surgical system is disclosed including an imaging device, a display, and a control system operably coupled to the imaging device and the display. The display is configured to show a livestream of a surgical field of a surgical procedure. The livestream is captured by the imaging device. The control system is configured to overlay, on the livestream, a first amount of information associated with the surgical procedure, detect an event configured to cause the first amount of information being overlaid to increase to a second amount of information being overlaid, compare the second amount of information to a distraction threshold, adjust the second amount of information to a third amount of information based on the comparison, and overlay, on the livestream, the third amount of information based on the second amount of information being adjusted. The third amount of information is less than the distraction threshold.