Stepping into the operating theater: ARAV — Augmented Reality Aided Vertebroplasty

Augmented reality (AR) for preoperative diagnostics and planning, intra operative navigation and postoperative follow-up examination has been a topic of intensive research over the last two decades. However, clinical studies showing AR technology integrated into the real clinical environment and workflow are still rare. The incorporation of an AR system as a standard tool into the real clinical workflow has not been presented so far. This paper reports on the strategies and intermediate results of the ARAV - augmented reality aided vertebroplasty project that has been initiated to make an AR system based on a stereo video see-through head mounted display that is permanently available in the operating room (OR).