# Resolving the Ambiguity of Complete-to-Partial Point Cloud Registration for Image-Guided Liver Surgery with Patches-to-Partial Matching

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.19328 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.19328/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 23 of its 54 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 26 Dec 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 23 of 23)

- [PyTorch: An Imperative Style, High-Performance Deep Learning Library](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.01703/) (2019)
- [PointNet: Deep Learning on Point Sets for 3D Classification and Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.00593/) (2016)
- [PointNet++: Deep Hierarchical Feature Learning on Point Sets in a Metric Space](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.02413/) (2017)
- [Point Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.00931/) (2020)
- [KPConv: Flexible and Deformable Convolution for Point Clouds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.08889/) (2019)
- [LoFTR: Detector-Free Local Feature Matching with Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.00680/) (2021)
- [Open3D: A Modern Library for 3D Data Processing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.09847/) (2018)
- [The Medical Segmentation Decathlon](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.05735/) (2021)
- [3DMatch: Learning Local Geometric Descriptors from RGB-D Reconstructions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1603.08182/) (2016)
- [PREDATOR: Registration of 3D Point Clouds with Low Overlap](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.13005/) (2020)
- [PointNetLK: Robust & Efficient Point Cloud Registration using PointNet](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.05711/) (2019)
- [Geometric Transformer for Fast and Robust Point Cloud Registration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.06688/) (2022)
- [Neighbourhood Consensus Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.10510/) (2018)
- [Go-ICP: A Globally Optimal Solution to 3D ICP Point-Set Registration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1605.03344/) (2016)
- [CoFiNet: Reliable Coarse-to-fine Correspondences for Robust Point Cloud Registration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.14076/) (2021)
- [REGTR: End-to-end Point Cloud Correspondences with Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.14517/) (2022)
- [Lepard: Learning partial point cloud matching in rigid and deformable scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.12591/) (2021)
- [3D Registration with Maximal Cliques](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.10854/) (2023)
- [Rotation-Invariant Transformer for Point Cloud Matching](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.08231/) (2023)
- [OMNet: Learning Overlapping Mask for Partial-to-Partial Point Cloud Registration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.00937/) (2021)
- [Non-Rigid Volume to Surface Registration using a Data-Driven Biomechanical Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14695/) (2020)
- [Learning Feature Descriptors for Pre- and Intra-operative Point Cloud Matching for Laparoscopic Liver Registration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.03688/) (2022)
- [Boundary Constraint-free Biomechanical Model-Based Surface Matching for Intraoperative Liver Deformation Correction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.09964/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Toward Patient-specific Partial Point Cloud to Surface Completion for Pre- to Intra-operative Registration in Image-guided Liver Interventions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.19518/) (2025)
- [ARport: An Augmented Reality System for Markerless Image-Guided Port Placement in Robotic Surgery](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.14153/) (2026)
- [Deep learning based Non-Rigid Volume-to-Surface Registration for Brain Shift compensation Using Point Cloud](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.17389/) (2026)
- [Test Time Adaptation Methods for Point Cloud Registration in Laparoscopic Surgery](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.02883/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In image-guided liver surgery, the initial rigid alignment between preoperative and intraoperative data, often represented as point clouds, is crucial for providing sub-surface information from preoperative CT/MRI images to the surgeon during the procedure. Currently, this alignment is typically performed using semi-automatic methods, which, while effective to some extent, are prone to errors that demand manual correction. Point cloud correspondence-based registration methods are promising to serve as a fully automatic solution. However, they may struggle in scenarios with limited intraoperative surface visibility, a common challenge in liver surgery, particularly in laparoscopic procedures, which we refer to as complete-to-partial ambiguity. We first illustrate this ambiguity by evaluating the performance of state-of-the-art learning-based point cloud registration methods on our carefully constructed in silico and in vitro datasets. Then, we propose a patches-to-partial matching strategy as a plug-and-play module to resolve the ambiguity, which can be seamlessly integrated into learning-based registration methods without disrupting their end-to-end structure. It has proven effective and efficient in improving registration performance for cases with limited intraoperative visibility. The constructed benchmark and the proposed module establish a solid foundation for advancing applications of point cloud correspondence-based registration methods in image-guided liver surgery.