Preoperative Holographic Assessment of Pulmonary Anatomy

Holography is a method of creating three-dimensional images called holograms. They are made by superimposing a second wavefront - usually defined as reference beam - on the wavefront of interest, thereby producing an interference pattern which is then recorded on a physical medium (1).

Holograms are used in many fields like logistics, search and rescue operations, military missions and biomedicine, in particular surgery. At pre-operative level, 3D holograms can be used to maximize information on patient’s anatomy and help planning of the best surgical strategy. The surgeon can use 3D holographic models to assess tumor location and extension as well as its relation with closer structures. Moreover, from a cognitive point of view, 3D holographic preoperative assessment provides surgeons with a valuable support both in spatial imagination and mental rotation (2).

Here we report a preoperative holographic assessment - from a standard preoperative CT scan – of a patient undergoing left upper lobectomy for cancer. The left upper lobe usually presents the higher variability grade in terms of vascular anatomy, thus maximally benefitting from preoprative 3D holographic evaluation.

References

1. Gabor D. A new microscopic principle. Nature. 161 (4098): 777–8

2. Triberti S, Petrella F, Gorini A, Pappalardo O, Sebri V, Savioni L, Redaelli A, Pravettoni G. Augmenting surgery: medical students' assessment and ergonomics of 3D holograms vs. CT Scans for pre- operative planning. EAI Endorsed Trans. Pervasive Health Technol. 2021; 7(25):e5.