MFF-Net: Multiscale feature fusion semantic segmentation network for intracranial surgical instruments.

Background: In robot-assisted surgery, automatic segmentation of surgical instrument images is crucial for surgical safety. The proposed method addresses challenges in the craniotomy environment, such as occlusion and illumination, through an efficient surgical instrument segmentation network.

Methods: The network uses YOLOv8 as the target detection framework and integrates a semantic segmentation head to achieve detection and segmentation capabilities. A concatenation of multi-channel feature maps is designed to enhance model generalisation by fusing deep and shallow features. The innovative GBC2f module ensures the lightweight of the network and the ability to capture global information.

Results: Experimental validation of the intracranial glioma surgical instrument dataset shows excellent performance: 94.9% MPA score, 89.9% MIoU value, and 126.6 FPS.

Conclusions: According to the experimental results, the segmentation model proposed in this study has significant advantages over other state-of-the-art models. This provides a valuable reference for the further development of intelligent surgical robots.