Next frontier in optical imaging techniques for laparoscopic surgery: An industry perspective

Abstract

Laparoscopic surgery in clinical practice has made great strides in extending novel techniques and technology in treating numerous disease conditions in recent years. It has also improved the patient's outcome while lowering the overall cost of healthcare due mainly to the shorter duration of hospitalization. Despite the progress, the ability of a surgeon to view diseased tissue, critical structures such as blood vessels has been limited to the live video images that the surgeon views during surgery. This study looks first into the imaging needs of surgeons during laparoscopic surgery for common procedures; it then reviews the current state of the art for each imaging modality in relation to the needs of the surgeons as identified. The review concludes with a summary of the potential for some of these optical imaging methods to become mainstream techniques in laparoscopic imaging.