Motion tracking for beating heart surgery

Abstract

The past decades have seen the notable development of minimally invasive surgery (MIS), in which the surgical gesture is performed through small incisions in the patient's body. The benefits of this modality of surgery for patients are numerous, shortening convalescence, reducing trauma and surgery costs. However, several difficulties are imposed to the surgeon, such as decreased mobility, reduced visibility, uncomfortable working posture and the loss of tactile feedback. In this context, robotic assistance aims to aid surgeons to overcome such difficulties, making the surgical act more intuitive and safer. Consequently, commercially available surgical platforms such as the daVinciTM (Intuitive Surgical) quickly became popular. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.