CLARITY AND SMOKE EVALUATION

Real-time surgical video enhancement

My role

Interaction design
Visual design

Team

Product
Engineering
Regulatory
Marketing

Project length

3 Years

Problem

During surgery, surgical smoke/plume is dangerous to breathe in for the OR staff and patient. It can create long-term health defects. It also can disrupt the surgical image, which could increase the chance of surgical mistakes. Currently, smoke is managed manually by either the surgeon or a surgical nurse.

Solution

An integrated physical and digital experience that amplified surgical visualization by improving clarity, contrast, and detail through the use of AI/ML.

Impact

93%

of surgeons believed it positively impacts the efficiency of the OR.

Research

We observed surgeries across multiple specialties to understand when surgical smoke appears, how it hinders the surgical image, and what the current smoke evacuation process is.

Operating room

In an endoscopic surgery, the surgeon is viewing the surgery through a monitor. Some of the equipment in the operating room includes a display, insufflator (to remove smoke), microphoned headset and a camera head.

Findings

  1. The surgeon needs the smoke to be removed as quickly as possible, as it can block the surgical image.

  2. The surgeon and nurse need to be able to control the surgical image and removal of surgical smoke.

  3. The surgeon needs the ability to control smoke removal and image enhancement independently.

Opportunity

How might we help surgeons efficiently remove surgical smoke and improve the surgical image, across multiple specialties?

Design strategy

Provide surgeons and nurses a clear surgical image as efficiently as possible, while integrating in their current workflow.

Design process

We used prototyped different solutions over live surgical image to get rapid feedback from surgeons and on-field specialists.

A system that detects smoke and employs AI/ML to enhance visualization by boosting clarity, contrast, and detail, while also clearing smoke through insufflation. The system is activated by the surgeon through display navigation, voice, or camera head.

A video depicting smoke obscuring the surgical image, with the surgeon using voice control to activate AI/ML-enabled image enhancement technology. Once activated, the surgical image is cleared of smoke. Warning: This video contains surgical images that may be unsettling for those sensitive to blood or similar content.

Solution