Effects of image-sharpening algorithm on surgical field visibility during 3D heads-up surgery for vitreoretinal diseases

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 2758
• Main Authors: Nakajima, Kosuke, Inoue, Makoto, Mizuno, Masaharu, Koto, Takashi, Ishida, Tomoka, Ozawa, Hitomi, Oshika, Tetsuro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 16.02.2023; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 692/308/575; 692/699/3161/3175; Algorithms; Basement Membrane - surgery; Color; Epiretinal Membrane - diagnostic imaging; Epiretinal Membrane - surgery; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Image processing; Membranes; multidisciplinary; Retina - diagnostic imaging; Retina - surgery; Retrospective Studies; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Surgery; Tomography, Optical Coherence; Visual Acuity; Vitrectomy - methods
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-29882-5

We conducted clinical and experimental studies to investigate the effects of image-sharpening algorithms and color adjustments, which enabled real-time processing of live surgical images with a delay of 0.004 s. The images were processed with image-sharpening intensities of 0%, 12.5%, 25%, and 50% during cataract surgery, vitrectomy, peeling of epiretinal membrane, and peeling of internal limiting membrane (ILM) with the Ngenuity 3D visualization system. In addition, the images obtained with a yellow filter during the ILM peeling were processed with color adjustments. Five vitreoretinal surgeons scored the clarity of the images on a 10-point scale. The images of a 1951 United States Air Force grating target placed in no fluid (control), saline, and 0.1% and 1% milk solution were evaluated. The results showed that the mean visibility score increased significantly from 5.0 ± 0.6 at 0% to 6.4 ± 0.6 at 12.5%, 7.3 ± 0.7 at 25%, and 7.5 ± 0.9 at 50% ( P  < 0.001). The visibility scores during ILM peeling improved significantly with color adjustments ( P  = 0.005). In the experimental study, the contrast of the grating targets blurred by the 0.1% and 1% milk solution increased significantly by the image-sharpening procedure. We conclude that the image-sharpening algorithms and color adjustments improved the intraoperative visibility of 3D heads-up surgery.