New Concepts for Intraoperative Navigation: Calibration of a 3-D Laparoscope

Abstract Our work presents a new concept to assist with laparoscopic surgi - cal procedures Rather than the simple visualization of the images from a 3D laparoscope on a stereoscopic visualization display, our goal is to register in - traoperative stereoscopic images with preoperative patient's diagnostic data (CT), without measuring fiducial markers A graphical overlay on the visuali - zation would allow the surgeon to see through the organs, beyond their sur - face The success of this system highly depends on an accurate 3D - laparoscope camera calibration The major problems arise because of the small distance between the cameras, the high lens distortion and the illumination conditions We have performed several calibration procedures based on the pin - hole camera model Comparative results are reported and discussed