Radiology, Balgrist University Hospital, Forchstrasse, 340, 8008, Zurich, Switzerland.
Incremed AG, Lenghalde 5, 8008, Zurich, Switzerland.
Eur Radiol Exp. 2020 Feb 4;4(1):7. doi: 10.1186/s41747-019-0129-y.
Ultrasound (US) images are currently displayed on monitors, and their understanding needs good orientation skills. Direct overlay of US images onto the according anatomy is possible with augmented reality (AR) technologies. Our purpose was to explore the performance of US-guided needle placement with and without AR in situ US viewing.
Three untrained operators and two experienced radiologists performed 200 US-guided punctures: 100 with and 100 without AR in situ US. The punctures were performed in two different phantoms, a leg phantom with soft tissue lesions and a vessel phantom. Time to puncture and number of needle passes were recorded for each puncture. Data are reported as median [range] according to their non-normal distribution.
AR in situ US resulted in reduced time (median [range], 13 s [3-101] versus 14 s [3-220]) and number of needle passes (median [range], 1 [1-4] versus 1 [1-8]) compared to the conventional technique. The initial gap in performance of untrained versus experienced operators with the conventional US (time, 21.5 s [3-220] versus 10.5 s [3-94] and needle passes 1 [1-8] versus 1 [1, 2]) was reduced to 12.5 s [3-101] versus 13 s [3-100] and 1 [1-4] versus 1 [1-4] when using AR in situ US, respectively.
AR in situ US could be a potential breakthrough in US applications by simplifying operator's spatial orientation and reducing experience-based differences in performance of US-guided interventions. Further studies are needed to confirm these preliminary phantom results.
超声（US）图像目前显示在监视器上，其理解需要良好的定向技能。增强现实（AR）技术可以将 US 图像直接叠加到相应的解剖结构上。我们的目的是探索使用和不使用 AR 原位 US 观察的情况下进行 US 引导下的针放置的性能。
三名未经训练的操作员和两名有经验的放射科医生进行了 200 次 US 引导下的穿刺：100 次使用 AR 原位 US，100 次不使用 AR 原位 US。穿刺在两个不同的体模中进行，一个是软组织病变的腿部体模，一个是血管体模。记录每次穿刺的穿刺时间和针数。数据根据其非正态分布报告为中位数[范围]。
与传统技术相比，AR 原位 US 可减少穿刺时间（中位数[范围]，13 秒[3-101] 与 14 秒[3-220]）和针数（中位数[范围]，1[1-4] 与 1[1-8]）。在传统 US 下，未经训练的操作员与有经验的操作员之间的初始性能差距（时间，21.5 秒[3-220] 与 10.5 秒[3-94]和针数 1[1-8] 与 1[1, 2]）缩小到使用 AR 原位 US 时的 12.5 秒[3-101] 与 13 秒[3-100]和 1[1-4] 与 1[1-4]。
AR 原位 US 可以通过简化操作员的空间定向并减少基于经验的 US 引导干预性能差异，成为 US 应用的潜在突破。需要进一步的研究来证实这些初步的体模结果。
