Three-dimensional laparoscopy: is it as good as it looks?—a review of the literature

Abstract

Technological advancement has benefited minimal invasive surgery substantially. In terms of enhanced operative vision, three-dimensional (3D) laparoscopy provides binocular depth perception, which was absent in the past with the conventional two-dimensional (2D) laparoscopy. There have been a number of studies comparing the use of 2D and 3D laparoscopy over the years and they were reviewed in this article. Essentially, 3D laparoscopy resulted in better performance time and lower error rates with specific tasks in experimental settings, and this was seen in surgeons across different levels of experience. The advantage in terms of operative and clinical outcome was equivocal, with some studies demonstrated faster operating time and less blood loss while others showing similar results. Long-term results in this aspect are scarce. Despite these, surgeons appeared to prefer 3D laparoscopy to the conventional 2D imaging system. Nevertheless, there are still questions to be answered and the role of 3D laparoscopy can be better defined with evidence from future studies.

Initial experience with 3D laparoscopic choledochal cyst (CDC) excision and hepatico-duodenostomy (HD) in 21 children

“…(Figure 2 and 3). Headache, nausea and eye strain from 3D laparoscopy have been reported, although these are not consistently demonstrated across different studies [10]. No headache, vision disturbances or any other symptoms were by the surgeons in our study.…”

Initial experience with 3D laparoscopic choledochal cyst (CDC) excision and hepatico-duodenostomy (HD) in 21 children

“…(Figure 2 and 3). Headache, nausea and eye strain from 3D laparoscopy have been reported, although these are not consistently demonstrated across different studies [10]. No headache, vision disturbances or any other symptoms reported by the surgeons in our study.…”

Cirugía Colo-rectal Laparoscópica en 3D. ¿Recomendamos su implantación?

“…Este mecanismo se basa en la proyección en el monitor del laparoscopio, de las dos imágenes obtenidas gracias al estereoscopio de doble canal, con filtros de polarización distintos, correspondiendo estos filtros a los presentes en las gafas. La polarización de ciertos píxeles de la imagen en forma de líneas horizontales alternantes entre un ojo y otro, bloqueando los píxeles del ojo contralateral, crean una sensación de imagen estereoscópica individual para el ojo derecho y el izquierdo con una sensación de profundidad mayor (8).…”