Evaluation of Perception Performance in Neck Dissection Planning using Eye Tracking and Attention Landscapes

Neck dissection is a surgical intervention at which cervical lymph node metastases are removed. Accurate surgical planning is of high importance because wrong judgment of the situation causes severe harm for the patient. Diagnostic perception of radiological images by a surgeon is an acquired skill that can be enhanced by training and experience. To improve accuracy in detecting pathological lymph nodes by newcomers and less experienced professionals, it is essential to understand how surgical experts solve relevant visual and recognition tasks. By using eye tracking and especially the newly-developed attention landscapes visualizations, it could be deter-mined whether visualization options, for example 3D models instead of CT data, help in increasing accuracy and speed of neck dissection planning. Thirteen ORL surgeons with different levels of expertise participated in this study. They inspected different visualizations of 3D models and original CT datasets of patients. Among others, we used scanpath analysis and attention landscapes to interpret the inspection strategies. It was possible to distinguish different patterns of visual exploratory activity. The experienced surgeons exhibited a higher concentration of attention on the limited number of areas of interest and demonstrated less saccadic eye movements indicating a better orientation.