Sara Condino

Sara Condino
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Sara verified their affiliation via an institutional email.
Verified
Sara verified their affiliation via an institutional email.
University of Pisa | UNIPI · Department of Information Engineering

Eng, PhD

About

102
Publications
24,906
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1,644
Citations

Publications

Publications (102)
Article
Wearable augmented reality in neurosurgery offers significant advantages by enabling the visualization of navigation information directly on the patient, seamlessly integrating virtual data with the real surgical field. This ergonomic approach can facilitate a more intuitive understanding of spatial relationships and guidance cues, potentially redu...
Preprint
Full-text available
Neuronavigation is integral to modern neurosurgery. Clinical studies demonstrate its effectiveness. The primary tracking modalities in neurosurgical navigation are optical tracking systems (OTS) and electromagnetic tracking systems (EMTS). OTS remains the gold standard due to its accuracy and reliability. However, inherent inaccuracies due to brain...
Conference Paper
This study explores and preliminarily validates an online calibration method for Augmented Reality Optical See-Through Head-Mounted Displays. One of the major obstacles with those devices concerns the complexity and the unreliability of the calibration procedures for a correct virtual-to-real alignment, a key aspect of medical and industrial settin...
Article
Full-text available
Objective: The use of commercially available optical-see-through (OST) head-mounted displays (HMDs) in their own peripersonal space leads the user to experience two perception conflicts that deteriorate their performance in precision manual tasks: the vergence-accommodation conflict (VAC) and the focus rivalry. In this work, we aim characterizing f...
Article
Full-text available
Head-mounted displays (HMDs) are hands-free devices particularly useful for guiding near-field tasks such as manual surgical procedures. See-through HMDs do not significantly alter the user’s direct view of the world, but the optical merging of real and virtual information can hinder their coherent and simultaneous perception. In particular, the co...
Article
Full-text available
Pedicle screw fixation (PSF) demands rigorous training to mitigate the risk of severe neurovascular complications arising from screw misplacement. This paper introduces a patient-specific phantom designed for PSF training, extending a portion of the learning process beyond the confines of the surgical room. Six phantoms of the thoracolumbar region...
Article
Full-text available
Achieving and maintaining proper image registration accuracy is an open challenge of image-guided surgery. This work explores and assesses the efficacy of a registration sanity check method for augmented reality-guided navigation (AR-RSC), based on the visual inspection of virtual 3D models of landmarks. We analyze the AR-RSC sensitivity and specif...
Conference Paper
This study proposes a preliminary new simulation approach using an immersive AR device for medical and paramedical complex training scenarios in hospital and pre-hospital tasks as a substitute for the current real and virtual simulations. The simulation activities selected for testing the proposed AR-based approach consist of: 1) setting up an oper...
Article
Full-text available
Giant Cell Tumor of Bone is a benign tumor with high local aggressive expansion, which, in rare cases, spreads metastasis. Surgical treatment, which often consists of wide curettage to reduce recurrence risk, can lower the quality of life for those affected. Along with aggressive surgery, adjuvant intraoperative techniques have been implemented suc...
Article
Full-text available
Research studies show that serious games can increase patient motivation regardless of age or illness and be an affordable and promising solution with respect to conventional physiotherapy. In this paper, we present the latest evolution of our system for shoulder rehabilitation based on hand-finger tracking and projected augmented reality. This ver...
Article
Full-text available
This study aims to critically analyse the workflow of the in situ bioprinting procedure, presenting a simulated neurosurgical case study, based on a real traumatic event, for collecting quantitative data in support of this innovative approach. After a traumatic event involving the head, bone fragments may have to be removed and a replacement implan...
Article
Full-text available
The growing interest in augmented reality applications has led to an in-depth look at the performance of head-mounted displays and their testing in numerous domains. Other devices for augmenting the real world with virtual information are presented less frequently and usually focus on the description of the device rather than on its performance ana...
Article
Full-text available
The adoption of extended reality solutions is growing rapidly in the healthcare world. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) interfaces can bring advantages in various medical-health sectors; it is thus not surprising that the medical MR market is among the fastest-growing ones. The present study reports on a comparison between two of the...
Article
Full-text available
Biomedical engineering integrates a variety of applied sciences with life sciences to improve human health and reduce the invasiveness of surgical procedures. Technological advances, achieved through biomedical engineering, have contributed to significant improvements in the field of vascular and endovascular surgery. This paper aims to review the...
Preprint
Full-text available
The growing interest in augmented reality applications has led to an in-depth look at the performance of head-mounted displays and their testing in numerous domains. Other devices for augmenting the real world with virtual information are presented less frequently and usually focus on the description of the device rather than on its performance ana...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Patient-specific templates (PST) have become a useful tool for guiding osteotomy in complex surgical scenarios such as pelvic resections. The design of the surgical template results in sharper, less jagged resection margins than freehand cuts. However, their correct placement can become difficult in some anatomical regions and cannot be verified du...
Conference Paper
Augmented Reality (AR) can avoid some of the drawbacks of Minimally Invasive Surgery and may provide opportunities for developing innovative tools to assist surgeons. In laparoscopic surgery, the achievement of easy and sufficiently accurate registration is an open challenge. This is particularly true in procedures, such as laparoscopic abdominal S...
Article
Full-text available
In recent years, huge progress has been made in the management of brain tumors, due to the availability of imaging devices, which provide fundamental anatomical and pathological information not only for diagnostic purposes [...]
Article
Full-text available
Serious games are games in which the main goal is not entertainment, but a serious purpose ranging from the acquisition of knowledge to interactive training, to name just a few [...]
Article
Full-text available
In the context of image-guided surgery, augmented reality (AR) represents a ground-breaking enticing improvement, mostly when paired with wearability in the case of open surgery. Commercially available AR head-mounted displays (HMDs), designed for general purposes, are increasingly used outside their indications to develop surgical guidance applica...
Article
Augmented reality (AR) devices are gaining popularity in industrial development and healthcare as they provide information that would not be accessible in a rapid and intuitive way. Head-mounted displays dominate in this field and are currently being comprehensively tested. Alongside its informative function, AR can be used to steer the user's acti...
Article
Full-text available
Nowadays, ultrasound (US) is increasingly being chosen as imaging modality for both diagnostic and interventional applications, owing to its positive characteristics in terms of safety, low footprint and low cost. The combination of this imaging modality with wearable augmented reality (AR) systems, such as the head-mounted displays (HMD), comes fo...
Article
Full-text available
Background: This report discusses the utility of a wearable augmented reality platform in neurosurgery for parasagittal and convexity en plaque meningiomas with bone flap removal and custom-made cranioplasty. Methods: A real patient with en plaque cranial vault meningioma with diffuse and extensive dural involvement, extracranial extension into...
Article
Full-text available
Augmented Reality (AR) headsets have become the most ergonomic and efficient visualization devices to support complex manual tasks performed under direct vision. Their ability to provide hands-free interaction with the augmented scene makes them perfect for manual procedures such as surgery. This study demonstrates the reliability of an AR head-mou...
Article
INTRODUCTION: Mastering surgery and treatments of spine-related conditions require long training times. The need for cost-effective structured training is raising. Training through simulation can potentially revolutionize the standard paradigm if proper simulators are developed and tested. The purpose of this review was to evaluate the literature l...
Article
Today, neuronavigation is widely used in daily clinical routine to perform safe and efficient surgery. Augmented reality (AR) interfaces can provide anatomical models and preoperative planning contextually blended with the real surgical scenario, overcoming the limitations of traditional neuronavigators. This study aims to demonstrate the reliabili...
Article
Full-text available
Cryosurgery is a technique of growing popularity involving tissue ablation under controlled freezing. Technological advancement of devices along with surgical technique improvements have turned cryosurgery from an experimental to an established option for treating several diseases. However, cryosurgery is still limited by inaccurate planning based...
Article
In situ fenestration of stent-graft represents a potential option for the treatment of aortic diseases in patients unsuitable for standard endovascular repair. The best fenestration strategy to restore perfusion of collateral vessels after their coverage by an endograft depends mainly on the anatomical area. Several tools are employed as fenestrati...
Article
Full-text available
Simulation-based medical training is considered an effective tool to acquire/refine technical skills, mitigating the ethical issues of Halsted’s model. This review aims at evaluating the literature on medical simulation techniques based on augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and hybrid approaches. The research identified 23 articles that me...
Article
Full-text available
Simulation for surgical training is increasingly being considered a valuable addition to traditional teaching methods. 3D-printed physical simulators can be used for preoperative planning and rehearsal in spine surgery to improve surgical workflows and postoperative patient outcomes. This paper proposes an innovative strategy to build a hybrid simu...
Article
Full-text available
Background: In the context of guided surgery, augmented reality (AR) represents a groundbreaking improvement. The Video and Optical See-Through Augmented Reality Surgical System (VOSTARS) is a new AR wearable head-mounted display (HMD), recently developed as an advanced navigation tool for maxillofacial and plastic surgery and other non-endoscopic...
Article
Full-text available
In pedicle screws placement using a free-hand technique or a fluoroscopic guided technique the main difficulties are facing to the bone morphology (i.e in deformity cases) and it could be easily reproduced in a patient’s specific spine simulator (we can choose the case). The aim of this work is to evaluate the use of 3D printed patient- specific mo...
Article
Full-text available
In the last years also in orthopedic surgery, there was an increasing interest in the development of surgical simulators using methods of additive manufacturing combined or not with augmented reality systems (hybrid simulators). Aim of this work was to evaluate the use of a new patient’s specific tibial plateau fractures simulator for surgical trai...
Article
Full-text available
In recent years, the spreading of visual augmented reality as an effective tool in image-guided surgery, has stimulated the research community to investigate the use of commercial augmented reality headsets a broad range of potential applications. This aroused enthusiasm among clinicians for the potential of augmented reality, but also revealed som...
Article
Objective: Aortic valve disease is the most common heart disease in the elderly calling for replacement with an artificial valve. The presented surgical robot aims to provide a highly controllable instrument for efficient delivery of an artificial valve by the help of integrated endoscopic vision. Methods: A robot (called ValveTech), intended fo...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Augmented reality (AR) head-mounted displays (HMDs) combine the user's natural view of the real world with virtual data. Thus, they might be particularly suited to guide manual tasks as in computer-aided-surgery. However, the typical focal plane of commercial devices is outside the user's peripersonal space (i.e. the space containing reachable obje...
Article
Background: Virtual reality is becoming popular in the rehabilitation field thanks to the several advantages it can offer to patients and physicians. Indeed, serious games can: motivate and engage the patient; offer different levels of challenge and difficulty based on the patient baseline, and integrate objective measures of the patient's perform...
Article
Full-text available
Augmented reality (AR) Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) are emerging as the most efficient output medium to support manual tasks performed under direct vision. Despite that, technological and human-factor limitations still hinder their routine use for aiding high-precision manual tasks in the peripersonal space. To overcome such limitations, in this wo...
Article
Full-text available
Objective: This work aims at providing novel endovascular instrumentation to overcome current technical limitations of in situ endograft fenestration including challenges in targeting the fenestration site under fluoroscopic control and supplying mechanical support during endograft perforation. Technology: Novel electromagnetically trackable instru...
Article
Full-text available
Augmented reality (AR) technology is gaining popularity and scholarly interest in the rehabilitation sector because of the possibility to generate controlled, user-specific environmental and perceptual stimuli which motivate the patient, while still preserving the possibility to interact with the real environment and other subjects, including the r...
Conference Paper
VR navigation systems have emerged as a particularly useful tool for the guidance of minimally invasive surgical procedures to restore the 3D perception of the surgical field and augment the visual information available to the surgical team. Over the past decade, X-ray free VR navigation systems based on Electromagnetic (EM) tracking have been prop...
Chapter
Shoulder pain is very common in adult population (16%–26%) and it has several impacts on the Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). In this context, an effective rehabilitation is needed to assist the patients to regain autonomy and improve ADLs.
Article
Full-text available
Aortic valve replacement is the only definitive treatment for aortic stenosis, a highly prevalent condition in elderly population. Minimally invasive surgery brought numerous benefits to this intervention, and robotics recently provided additional improvements in terms of telemanipulation, motion scaling, and smaller incisions. Difficulties in obta...
Article
The focal length of available optical see-through (OST) head-mounted displays (HMDs) is at least 2 m therefore, during manual tasks, the user eye cannot keep in focus both the virtual and real content at the same time. Another perceptual limitation is related to the vergence-accommodation conflict (VAC), this latter being present in binocular visio...
Article
Full-text available
The in situ laser fenestration is an interesting option for the endovascular treatment of short‐necked aneurysms with an intraoperative modification of a standard endograft. According to literature evidence, diode laser emitting in the near infrared wavelength (810 nm) can be successfully used to fenestrate the endograft fabric. This paper describe...
Article
Full-text available
Literature shows an increasing interest for the development of augmented reality (AR) applications in several fields, including rehabilitation. Current studies show the need for new rehabilitation tools for upper extremity, since traditional interventions are less effective than in other body regions. This review aims at: Studying to what extent AR...
Article
Hybrid surgical simulators based on Augmented Reality (AR) solutions benefit from the advantages of both the box trainers and the Virtual Reality simulators. This paper reports on the results of a long development stage of a hybrid simulator for laparoscopic cholecystectomy that integrates real and the virtual components. We first outline the speci...
Article
Full-text available
Orthopaedic simulators are popular in innovative surgical training programs, where trainees gain procedural experience in a safe and controlled environment. Recent studies suggest that an ideal simulator should combine haptic, visual, and audio technology to create an immersive training environment. This article explores the potentialities of mixed...
Chapter
In mini-invasive surgery and in endoscopic procedures, the surgeon operates without a direct visualization of the patient’s anatomy. In image-guided surgery, solutions based on wearable augmented reality (AR) represent the most promising ones. The authors describe the characteristics that an ideal Head Mounted Display (HMD) must have to guarantee s...
Chapter
Surgical simulation can offer novice surgeons an opportunity to practice skills outside the operating theatre in a safe controlled environment. According to literature evidence, nowadays there are very few training simulators available for Hip Arthroplasty (HA). In a previous study we have presented a physical simulator based on a lower torso phant...
Conference Paper
Virtual Reality (VR) is promising not just for the game and entertainment industry, but also for the medical and surgical fields, to develop simulation systems and navigation tools for the intra-operative assistance. Electromagnetic (EM) tracking technology is today widely proposed in the context of computer-assisted medical interventions. In this...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Recently, minimally invasive cardiothoracic surgery (MICS) has grown in popularity thanks to its advantages over conventional surgery and advancements in surgical robotics. This paper presents a patient-specific virtual surgical simulator for the movability evaluation of single-port MICS robots. This simulator can be used for both the pre-operative...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose: The in situ fenestration of a standard endograft is currently limited by difficulties in targeting the fenestration site under fluoroscopic control and by the lack of a safe method to perforate the graft. Evidence in the literature suggests the use of a 3 D electromagnetic navigator to accurately guide the endovascular instruments to the t...
Conference Paper
The in-situ endograft fenestration, a possible surgical option for the minimally invasive treatment of aneurysms with unfavorable anatomy, is today limited by difficulties in targeting the fenestration site and by the lack of a safe method to perforate the graft. In this work we suggest the use of: a 3D electromagnetic (EM) navigator, to accurately...
Conference Paper
Palpation is an essential step of several open surgical procedures for locating arteries by arterial pulse detection. In this context, surgical simulation would ideally provide realistic haptic sensations to the operator. This paper presents a proof of concept implementation of tactile augmented reality for open-surgery training. The system is base...
Poster
Full-text available
Endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) repair (EVAR) involves the minimally invasive implantation of a stent-graft within the aorta to exclude the aneurysm from the circulation thus preventing its rupture. The feasibility of EVAR is highly dependent on the aorta morphology: the presence of one/both renal arteries emerging from the aneurysm i...
Conference Paper
Endovascular surgery requires acquisition of intraoperative X-ray images, exposing patient and surgical staff to a considerable dose of radiations. This disadvantage, and the difficulty in using bidimensional projective images, motivates the integration of endovascular navigators in the clinical practice. This paper presents a real-time vascular de...
Chapter
Currently, Pedicle screws are positioned using a freehand technique or under fluoroscopic guidance. Although computer navigation has improved its accuracy over the last years, image guided navigation has still little use among physicians for orthopaedic surgeries. This is because computer assisted surgeries are very expensive, specially the require...
Conference Paper
The most challenging step of cholecystectomy is the identification of Calot’s triangle. Adequate training by the surgical operators may reduce intraoperative risks due to anatomical misinterpretation. In this context, augmented reality (AR) can offer an excellent contribution to traditional education, by allowing the implementation of hybrid simula...
Conference Paper
Live Surgery is today an integral component of surgical training programs and innovative surgical technique dissemination. However, the increasing pressure to maintain efficiency and reduce surgical risks has raised the need for structured training sessions through simulation technologies. Simulation has the potential to overcome several limitation...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
In the last few years, there has been an increasing interest in the role of deep fascia mobility in musculoskeletal dynamics and chronic pain mechanisms. In a previous paper we presented an innovative semiautomatic approach to evaluate the 3D motion of the fascia using ultrasound (US) imaging, generating a sparse deformation vector field. This pape...