The goal of this project is to develop a specific software and hardware system that will integrate with current video laparoscopic surgical devices and provide for improved recognition and identification of relevant anatomical structures. In the Phase I portion of this project we will characterize the color properties of key anatomical structures as viewed by a video laparoscopy. Specifically the variation of these properties within a single patient throughout the course of the procedure and between different procedures will be investigated. The color properties and their variations will serve as the basis for the development of specific color image processing approaches to improve the identification of anatomical features on the video monitor with the expectation of decreasing the frequency of surgical complications.
