Augmented Reality-Assisted Epidural Needle Insertion: User Experience and Performance

EasyChair Preprint 10319

Abstract

The epidural injection is a medical intervention to inject therapeutics directly in the vicinity of the spinal cord and the nerves branching from it. Epidural needle insertion is a blind procedure that relies merely on the physician’s tactile feedback. Nevertheless, tactile feedback can be polluted with needle-tissue friction and vary from patient to patient. To achieve sub-millimetre accuracy, preempt neurological damage and reduce the radiation exposure time for patients and physicians, new technologies have been used. Inspired by the recent developments in spine surgery, we have studied the user experience who used our robot-assisted needle insertion system for epidural space localization and needle insertion in this study. In addition, the accuracy and repeatability of augmented reality-assisted epidural needle insertion were compared to that of non-assisted robotic needle insertion. For user experience assessment, NASA Task Load Index (TLX) was used and analyzed. The proposed system improved the accuracy, repeatability, and success rate of epidural needle insertion on an anatomical model. In addition, it reduced procedural time and was more effective from the users’ perspective.

Keyphrases: Augmented Reality, NASA-TLX, epidural space, needle insertion, robotic surgery

@booklet{EasyChair:10319,
  author    = {Negar Kazemipour and Amir Sayadi and Renzo Cecere and Jake Barralet and Amir Hooshiar},
  title     = {Augmented Reality-Assisted Epidural Needle Insertion: User Experience and Performance},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 10319},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2023}}