3D global estimation and augmented reality visualization of intra-operative X-ray dose.

The growing use of image-guided minimally-invasive surgical procedures is confronting clinicians and surgical staff with new radiation exposure risks from X-ray imaging devices. The accurate estimation of intra-operative radiation exposure can increase staff awareness of radiation exposure risks and enable the implementation of well-adapted safety measures. The current surgical practice of wearing a single dosimeter at chest level to measure radiation exposure does not provide a sufficiently accurate estimation of radiation absorption throughout the body. In this paper, we propose an approach that combines data from wireless dosimeters with the simulation of radiation propagation in order to provide a global radiation risk map in the area near the X-ray device. We use a multi-camera RGBD system to obtain a 3D point cloud reconstruction of the room. The positions of the table, C-arm and clinician are then used 1) to simulate the propagation of radiation in a real-world setup and 2) to overlay the resulting 3D risk-map onto the scene in an augmented reality manner. By using real-time wireless dosimeters in our system, we can both calibrate the simulation and validate its accuracy at specific locations in real-time. We demonstrate our system in an operating room equipped with a robotised X-ray imaging device and validate the radiation simulation on several X-ray acquisition setups.