Surgical navigation for targeted retroperitoneal lymph-node removal: a randomised, controlled, phase 3 trial.

Background: Metastatic retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (LND) for nodal recurrence is applied for a variety of cancers, such as urological, gynaecological and rectal cancer. Precise localisation and resection of these lymph nodes (LNs) during surgery can be challenging, especially after previous radiotherapy or surgery. The objective of this study was to assess the added value of surgical navigation for targeted LND in the retroperitoneum.

Tissue-probe contact assessment during robotic surgery using single-fiber reflectance spectroscopy.

The introduction of robotic surgery has improved minimally invasive surgery, and now robotic surgery is used in several areas of surgical oncology. Several optical techniques can be used to discriminate cancer from healthy tissue based on their optical properties. These technologies can also be employed with a small fiber-optic probe during minimally invasive surgery; however, for acquiring reliable measurements, some optical techniques require the fiber-optic probe to be in direct contact with the tissue.

Real-time intraoperative ultrasound registration for accurate surgical navigation in patients with pelvic malignancies.

Purpose: Surgical navigation aids surgeons in localizing and adequately resecting pelvic malignancies. Accuracy of the navigation system highly depends on the preceding registration procedure, which is generally performed using intraoperative fluoroscopy or CT. However, these ionizing methods are time-consuming and peroperative updates of the registration are cumbersome.

Hybrid registration of the fibula for electromagnetically navigated osteotomies in mandibular reconstructive surgery: a phantom study.

Purpose: In mandibular reconstructive surgery with free fibula flap, 3D-printed patient-specific cutting guides are the current state of the art. Although these guides enable accurate transfer of the virtual surgical plan to the operating room, disadvantages include long waiting times until surgery and the inability to change the virtual plan intraoperatively in case of tumor growth. Alternatively, (electromagnetic) surgical navigation combined with a non-patient-specific cutting guide could be used, requiring accurate image-to-patient registration.

Imaging Photoplethysmography (iPPG) in Head and Neck Reconstructive Surgery: A Novel Technique for Noninvasive Flap Perfusion Monitoring.

Background: Evaluate imaging photoplethysmography (iPPG) as a novel noninvasive technique to assess flap perfusion in head and neck free flap reconstructive (FFR) surgeries.

Methods: Intraoperative iPPG was performed in 17 patients undergoing FFR surgery. Imaging consisted of a 30-s video from which perfusion maps were extracted, providing detailed information about blood flow and pulsatility in the flap microvasculature.