• augmented reality
• spinal fusion surgery
• surgical navigation systems

This thesis concerns the design, implementation, and validation of an augmented reality application for spinal fusion surgery. The application targets both the minimally invasive case and the open one and can be used for any surgical approach.
The purpose of this application is to improve computer-assisted navigation systems, enhancing the planning capabilities and enabling faster, safer, and surgeon-customized screw placement.
The thesis is structured as follows. Chapter 2 introduces the anatomy of the spine, the pathologies that affect it, and the surgical procedures used to treat them, focusing on spinal fusion surgery. Chapter 3 then explains the key principles of Augmented Reality technology, the main challenges faced in applying this technology to clinical practice, and the current state-of-the-art solutions focusing on the spine domain. Chapter 4 outlines the features of the application and the implemented head-mounted display registration process. In Chapter 5, some aspects of the application are evaluated, and the results obtained from a user study are presented and analyzed. Finally, the conclusion and future work are discussed, and an appendix is included, which provides further details on the basic concepts and algorithms used in the thesis.