and process these pictures. But there's still a case to be made for 3D
HD video, which literally adds another dimension to surgical visualiza-
tion. While it hasn't taken the nation's living rooms by storm the way
that HD did, 3D is transforming how surgery is done.
"It changed the fundamentals"
Surgeons suffered a huge loss of sensory input in the transition from
open to minimally invasive surgery and from their eyes to endoscopic
and laparoscopic cameras, not the least of which involved their sud-
denly flattened binocular vision.
"One of the key weaknesses of traditional laparoscopic surgery is
looking through a 2-dimensional camera and at a 2-dimensional
screen," says Daniel D. Eun, MD, an associate professor of urology
and the director of minimally invasive robotic urologic oncology and
reconstructive surgery at Temple University School of Medicine in
Philadelphia, Pa. "The way you operate in the belly, every surgical
motion is different because you don't have the depth of view from
stereoscopic vision."
The introduction of the robotic surgical system — the camera and
console of which enable binocular vision — restored surgeons' miss-
ing sense of depth perception. Manually maneuvered, dual-optic scope
systems followed: with the help of lightweight, polarized sunglass-
style lenses to unscramble displayed images, they made 3D HD views
more affordable to surgical facilities as well as more accessible to
assisting members of the surgical team.
"It changed the fundamentals of a lot of things," says Dr. Eun. "With
stereoscopic and high-definition video, you get the best of both
worlds, magnification and depth. I can see exactly where I am and
have a greater understanding of the anatomy."
This awareness of sizes and spatial relationships on the millimeter
level allows surgeons to dissect tissue or place sutures with more con-
fidence and safety. "I wouldn't say, given what I do, that 3D HD is
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February 2015 | O U T PAT I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T
