PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Yoon, Jang W.
AU  - Spadola, Michael
AU  - Blue, Rachel
AU  - Saylany, Anissa
AU  - Sharma, Nikhil
AU  - Ahmad, Hasan S.
AU  - Buch, Vivek
AU  - Madhavan, Karthik
AU  - Chen, H. Isaac
AU  - Steinmetz, Michael P.
AU  - Welch, William C.
AU  - Malhotra, Neil R.
TI  - Do-It-Yourself Augmented Reality Heads-Up Display (DIY AR-HUD): A Technical Note
AID  - 10.14444/8106
DP  - 2021 Jul 14
TA  - International Journal of Spine Surgery
PG  - 8106
4099  - https://www.ijssurgery.com/content/early/2021/07/12/8106.short
4100  - https://www.ijssurgery.com/content/early/2021/07/12/8106.full
AB  - Background We present a “Do-It-Yourself” method to build an affordable augmented reality heads-up display system (AR-HUD) capable of displaying intraoperative images. All components are commercially available products, which the surgeons may use in their own practice for educational and research purposes.Methods Moverio BT 35-E smart glasses were connected to operating room imaging modalities (ie, fluoroscopy and 3D navigation platforms) via a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) converter, allowing for continuous high-definition video transmission. The addition of an HDMI transmitter-receiver makes the AR-HUD system wireless.Results We used our AR-HUD system in 3 patients undergoing instrumented spinal fusion. AR-HUD projected fluoroscopy images onto the surgical field, eliminating shift of surgeon focus and procedure interruption, with only a 40- to 100-ms delay in transmission, which was not clinically impactful.Conclusions An affordable AR-HUD capable of displaying real-time information into the surgeon's view can be easily designed, built, and tested in surgical practice. As wearable heads-up display technology continues to evolve rapidly, individual components presented here may be substituted to improve its functionality and usability. Surgeons are in a unique position to conduct clinical testing in the operating room environment to optimize the augmented reality system for surgical use.