Abstract: Objective:To investigate the application value of augmented reality (AR) technology in pancreatoduodenectomy (PD).
Methods:The retrospective and descriptive study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 3 male patients who underwent PD in Tsinghua University Affiliated Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital from June 2018 to February 2019 were collected. The 3 patients were aged from 52 to 63 years, with a median age of 57 years. Digital imaging and communication standard format data of enhanced computed tomography (CT) scan were collected, the three-dimensional (3D) images of abdominal arteries, portal vein, descending duodenum, pancreatic body and tail, pancreatic head, common bile duct, and pancreatic duct were reconstructed. The results were imported into the AR software. Optical tracking based on two-dimensional codes and manual interactive rigid registration were adopted for intraoperative navigation. Observation indicators: (1) surgical and postoperative conditions; (2) postoperative pathological examination; (3) follow-up. Follow-up using outpatient examination or telephone interview was conducted to detect survival of patients and tumor metastasis and recurrence up to June 2019. The measurement data with skewed distribution were expressed as M (range). Count data were expressed as absolute numbers.
 Results:(1) Surgical and postoperative conditions: all the 3 patients underwent PD with AR technology as intraoperative navigation successfully. The operation time, volume of intraoperative blood loss, and duration of postoperative hospital stay were 6 hours (range, 5-8 hours), 700 mL (range, 300-900 mL), 11 days (range, 9-12 days). There was no perioperative death or complication occured. After surgery, the patients who underwent PD combined with superior mesenteric vein (SMV) resection and reconstruction had patent SMV on the enhanced computed tomography examination. (2) Postoperative pathological examination: results of pathological examination showed 1 case of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) of the pancreas with invasive adenocarcinoma (neoplasm invading SMV), 1 case of insulinoma, and 1 case of periampullary neuroendocrine carcinoma, respectively. (3) Follow-up: 3 patients were followed up for 4-12 months, with a median follow-up time of 6 months. During the follow-up, the patient with IPMN of the pancreas and invasive adenocarcinoma had liver metastasis at 3 months after surgery, and received chemotherapy at other hospital. After 4 cycles of chemotherapy, the metastatic nodule shrank, and the patient was still in follow-up up to deadline of follow-up. Other 2 patients had no recurrence or metastasis.
Conclusion:AR technique assisted PD is safe and feasible, which is helpful to indentify vascular branches and tracks.