Purpose: In the current clinical standard of care, cystoscopic video is not routinely saved because it is cumbersome to review. Instead, clinicians rely on brief procedure notes and still frames to manage bladder pathology. Preserving discarded data via 3D reconstructions, which are convenient to review, has the potential to improve patient care. However, many clinical videos are collected by fiberscopes, which are lower cost but induce a pattern on frames that inhibits 3D reconstruction. The aim of this study is to remove the honeycomb-like pattern present in fiberscope-based cystoscopy videos to improve the quality of 3D bladder reconstructions. Approach: This study introduces a novel algorithm that applies a notch filtering mask in the Fourier domain to remove the honeycomb-like pattern from clinical cystoscopy videos collected by fiberscope as a preprocessing step to 3D reconstruction. We produce 3D reconstructions with the video before and after removing the pattern, which we compare with a novel metric termed the area of reconstruction coverage (ARC), defined as the surface area (in pixels) of the reconstructed bladder. All statistical analyses use paired t-tests. Results: Preprocessing using our method for pattern removal enabled reconstruction for all (n = 5) cystoscopy videos included in the study and produced a statistically significant increase in bladder coverage (p = 0.018). Conclusions: This algorithm for pattern removal increases bladder coverage in 3D reconstructions and automates mask generation and application, which could aid implementation in time-starved clinical environments. The creation and use of 3D reconstructions can improve documentation of cystoscopic findings for future surgical navigation, thus improving patient treatment and outcomes.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

This study did not receive any funding.

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

The Vanderbilt Institutional Review Board (IRB) gave ethical approval for this work.

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Yes

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

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I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable.

Yes

All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors.

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