The GPS for surgery: A user-centered evaluation of a navigation system for laparoscopic surgery

Background: Unsafe surgical care has emerged as a significant public health concern, motivated by a high percentage of major complications happening during surgery, attributed to surgeons' skills and experience, and determined to be preventable.

Methods: This article presents APSurg, an Abdominal Positioning Surgical system designed to improve awareness and safety during laparoscopic surgery. The proposed system behaves like a GPS, offering an additional dynamic virtual reality view of the surgical field.

Results: This work presents an evaluation study in terms of accuracy, effectiveness, and usability. Tests were conducted performing a localization task on an abdomen phantom in a simulated scenario. Results show a navigation accuracy below 5 mm. The task execution time was reduced by a 15% and the performed incision dimension was reduced by a 46%, with respect to a standard setup. A custom questionnaire showed a significant positive impact in exploiting APSurg during the surgical task execution.