The trend toward minimally invasive surgical interventions has created new challenges for visualization during surgical procedures. However, at the same time, the introduction of high-definition digital endoscopy offers the opportunity to apply methods from computer vision to provide visualization enhancements such as anatomic reconstruction, surface registration, motion tracking, and augmented reality. This review provides a perspective on this rapidly evolving field. It first introduces the clinical and technical background necessary for developing vision-based algorithms for interventional applications. It then discusses several examples of clinical interventions where computer vision can be applied, including bronchoscopy, rhinoscopy, transnasal skull-base neurosurgery, upper airway interventions, laparoscopy, robotic-assisted surgery, and Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES). It concludes that the currently reported work is only the beginning. As the demand for minimally invasive procedures rises, computer vision in surgery will continue to advance through close interdisciplinary work between interventionists and engineers.
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