# Deformation Corrected Image Guided Laparoscopic Liver Surgery

> **NIH NIH R01** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $561,763

## Abstract

Summary
The scientific premise underpinning this application is that technologies relating the precise physical location of
therapy and co-located spatially-encoded disease information, i.e. usually provided by imaging, will enable safer
less invasive liver surgical procedures thus increasing surgical candidacy and allowing for more accurate
interventions. Going further, this improvement in localization will facilitate the analysis of outcomes for
evaluating efficacy, the comparison of approaches, the rating of improvements, and the impact of imaging
biomarkers to drive therapy decisions. In this application, while there is potentially broad clinical impact, the
specific focus is facilitating and quantifying the spatial accuracy and fidelity of localized image-based information
to enhance navigational assistance during laparoscopic liver surgery. Realization would be a fundamental
advance in the domain of procedural medicine. The application hypothesis is that biomechanical model-based
registration coupled to non-contact digitization can account for soft-tissue deformations and localize
intraparenchymal liver targets to an unprecedented error of less than 3 mm of error on average. In addition, we
will begin to explore the impact of this technology on locoregional therapies. What also sets this application
apart is the strong translational trajectory of the technology through our proposed integration with the on FDA
cleared liver guidance system. Another distinction for the application is that we have employed an assessment
framework enlisting one of the best hepatopancreatobiliary services in the world at Memorial Sloan Kettering
Cancer Center under the supervision of Dr. William R. Jarnagin for the independent evaluation of the technology.
This decade+ long collaborative relationship among the co-PIs has been extremely productive (see Multi-PI plan)
and is among the most scientifically substantive in the field of image guided liver navigation. The specific aims
of the application involve: (1) the integration of deformation correction into a commercial guidance system, (2)
the investigation of a novel approach to the laparoscopic indication which includes advances in a non-contact
digitization and novel enhancements for modeling insufflation, ligament support, and model heterogeneity, (3)
three clinical bystander studies that quantitatively characterize improvements in digitization, and the laparoscopic
approach, and (4) an exploratory study that initiates the investigation of the use of the platform for locoregional
therapies. In summary, while the focus of the application is a fundamental advance in liver cancer surgical care,
it also offers a paradigm shift by providing a novel investigational framework in human systems within the context
of procedural medicine.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10240622
- **Project number:** 5R01EB027498-03
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** WILLIAM Robert JARNAGIN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $561,763
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-16 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10240622

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10240622, Deformation Corrected Image Guided Laparoscopic Liver Surgery (5R01EB027498-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10240622. Licensed CC0.

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