The role of three-dimensional visualization in surgical planning of treating lung cancer

This paper presents a study on investigating the role of three-dimensional visualization (3-D displays) in surgical planning of treating lung cancer. Contrasting to the minor role of 3-D displays in learning anatomy, this study discovered a significant role of 3-D displays in this surgical planning. The study proved the concept that 3-D displays of lung cavities are feasible and have distinctive advantages over two-dimensional views of computed tomography in decreasing workload by about 50%, reducing planning time by about 30%, and increasing the accuracy of predicted resectability by about 20%. These results forecast benefits for employing 3-D displays in surgical treatment of lung cancer, once the technique is perfected.