Augmented Reality for Assistance of Total Knee Replacement

Abstract

The aim of this work was the development of a surgical assistance system based on augmented reality to support joint replacement procedures and implantation of prosthetic knee. Images of the scene were captured in order to detect the visual markers located on the lateral surface of the patient’s leg for overlapping the 3D models of the prosthesis and the joint, as well as the tool used by the medical specialist. With the marker identification, it was possible to compute its position and orientation for locating the virtual models, obtaining a monitoring system for giving accurate information about the procedure. Also it can be used as training platform for surgeons, without having volunteers or patients for performing real surgeries; instead they can train in a virtual environment. The results have shown an efficient system in terms of cost-benefit relation, taking into account the materials used for developing the system; nevertheless, the accuracy of the algorithm decreases according to the distance between the markers.