Intraoperative magnetic navigation system for thoracoscopic surgery and its application to partial resection of the pig lung

Abstract In order to detect and track the small magnet embedded in the vicinity of a target tumor during surgical operation, a magnetic navigation system based on the three-dimensional measurement with micro-fluxgate magnetic sensors was developed. In this paper, we present an image overlay method for superimposing the magnet marker, which is localized by the magnetic navigation system, on the 2D endoscopic view. To evaluate the performance of the proposed system and its applicability in clinical use, we set up an in vivo experiment, in which the surgeons used the system to perform a thoracoscopic surgery on a pig. As a result, the surgeons could operate the partial resection of the target area, which corresponded to the tumor lesions, of the pig lung easily and safely under the guidance of the magnetic navigation system.