Automatic Identification for Laparoscopic Surgical Procedure for Ligation and Online Distinction of Abnormal Manipulation for Thread Knotting

Laparoscopic surgery is a difficult surgical procedure compared with laparotomy. In particular, considerable skills and care are required for thread knotting in laparoscopic surgery. In this paper, a method for automatic identification of a laparoscopic surgical procedure for ligation and online distinction of an abnormality, defined as any unusual manipulation, in the identified surgical procedure is proposed. Ligation is divided into several individual surgical procedures, and on the basis of the threshold criteria, each surgical procedure is identified. Next, the identified surgical procedure, thread knotting, is classified as either normal or abnormal using a self-organizing map. Finally, to reduce surgical error, an abnormality warning system which warns detection of an unusual manipulation in the surgical procedure to the operator is constructed.