Adaptive Graph Learning from Spatial Information for Surgical Workflow Anticipation

Francis Xiatian Zhang, Jingjing Deng, Robert Lieck and Hubert P. H. Shum
IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics (TMRB), 2025

Impact Factor: 3.4

Adaptive Graph Learning from Spatial Information for Surgical Workflow Anticipation

Abstract

Surgical workflow anticipation is the task of predicting the timing of relevant surgical events from live video data, which is critical in Robotic-Assisted Surgery (RAS). Accurate predictions require the use of spatial information to model surgical interactions. However, current methods focus solely on surgical instruments, assume static interactions between instruments, and only anticipate surgical events within a fixed time horizon. To address these challenges, we propose an adaptive graph learning framework for surgical workflow anticipation based on a novel spatial representation, featuring three key innovations. First, we introduce a new representation of spatial information based on bounding boxes of surgical instruments and targets, including their detection confidence levels. These are trained on additional annotations we provide for two benchmark datasets. Second, we design an adaptive graph learning method to capture dynamic interactions. Third, we develop a multi-horizon objective that balances learning objectives for different time horizons, allowing for unconstrained predictions. Evaluations on two benchmarks reveal superior performance in short-to-mid-term anticipation, with an error reduction of approximately 3% for surgical phase anticipation and 9% for remaining surgical duration anticipation. These performance improvements demonstrate the effectiveness of our method and highlight its potential for enhancing preparation and coordination within the RAS team. This improves surgical safety and the efficiency of operating room usage.


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Cite This Research

Plain Text

Francis Xiatian Zhang, Jingjing Deng, Robert Lieck and Hubert P. H. Shum, "Adaptive Graph Learning from Spatial Information for Surgical Workflow Anticipation," IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 266-280, IEEE, 2025.

BibTeX

@article{zhang25adaptive,
 author={Zhang, Francis Xiatian and Deng, Jingjing and Lieck, Robert and Shum, Hubert P. H.},
 journal={IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics},
 title={Adaptive Graph Learning from Spatial Information for Surgical Workflow Anticipation},
 year={2025},
 volume={7},
 number={1},
 pages={266--280},
 doi={10.1109/TMRB.2024.3517137},
 issn={2576-3202},
 publisher={IEEE},
}

RIS

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Zhang, Francis Xiatian
AU  - Deng, Jingjing
AU  - Lieck, Robert
AU  - Shum, Hubert P. H.
T2  - IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics
TI  - Adaptive Graph Learning from Spatial Information for Surgical Workflow Anticipation
PY  - 2025
VL  - 7
IS  - 1
SP  - 266
EP  - 280
DO  - 10.1109/TMRB.2024.3517137
SN  - 2576-3202
PB  - IEEE
ER  - 


Supporting Grants

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Northern Health Futures Hub (NortHFutures)
EPSRC Digital Health Hub Pilot Scheme (Ref: EP/X031012/1): £4.17 million, Co-Investigator (PI: Prof. Abigail Durrant)
Received from The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK, 2023-2026
Project Page

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