Frugal engineering-inspired wearable augmented reality goggle system enables fluorescence-guided cancer surgery

Leonid Shmuylovich, Christine M. O’Brien, Karen Nwosu, Samuel Achilefu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Disparities in surgical outcomes often result from subjective decisions dictated by surgical training, experience, and available resources. To improve outcomes, surgeons have adopted advancements in robotics, endoscopy, and intra-operative imaging including fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS), which highlights tumors and anatomy in real-time. However, technical, economic, and logistic challenges hinder widespread adoption of FGS beyond high-resource centers. To overcome these impediments, we combined laser diodes, Raspberry Pi cameras and computers, off-the-shelf optical components, and 3D-printed parts to make a battery-powered, compact, dual white light and NIR imaging system that has comparable performance to existing bulkier, pricier, and wall-powered technologies. We combined these components with off-the-shelf augmented reality (AR) glasses to create a fully-wearable fluorescence imaging AR Raspberry Pi-based goggle system (FAR-Pi) and validated performance in a pre-clinical cancer surgery model. Novel device design ensures distance-independent coalignment between real and augmented views. As an open-source, affordable, and adaptable system, FAR-Pi is poised to democratize access to FGS and improve health outcomes worldwide.

Original languageEnglish
Article number24402
JournalScientific reports
Volume14
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2024

Keywords

  • Augmented reality
  • Fluorescence guided surgery
  • Open source hardware
  • Raspberry pi
  • Wearable

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