# BridgeSplat: Bidirectionally Coupled CT and Non-Rigid Gaussian Splatting for Deformable Intraoperative Surgical Navigation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.18501 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.18501/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 12 of its 24 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 23 Sep 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 12 of 12)

- [GaussianAvatars: Photorealistic Head Avatars with Rigged 3D Gaussians](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.02069/) (2023)
- [Neural Rendering for Stereo 3D Reconstruction of Deformable Tissues in Robotic Surgery](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.15255/) (2022)
- [SurgicalSAM: Efficient Class Promptable Surgical Instrument Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.08746/) (2023)
- [Endo-4DGS: Endoscopic Monocular Scene Reconstruction with 4D Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.16416/) (2024)
- [Deform3DGS: Flexible Deformation for Fast Surgical Scene Reconstruction with Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.17835/) (2024)
- [EndoGS: Deformable Endoscopic Tissues Reconstruction with Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.11535/) (2024)
- [MIS-SLAM: Real-time Large Scale Dense Deformable SLAM System in Minimal Invasive Surgery Based on Heterogeneous Computing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.02009/) (2018)
- [LGS: A Light-weight 4D Gaussian Splatting for Efficient Surgical Scene Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.16073/) (2024)
- [EndoSparse: Real-Time Sparse View Synthesis of Endoscopic Scenes using Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.01029/) (2024)
- [Online 3D reconstruction and dense tracking in endoscopic videos](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.06037/) (2024)
- [Seamless Augmented Reality Integration in Arthroscopy: A Pipeline for Articular Reconstruction and Guidance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.00386/) (2024)
- [Neural Fields for 3D Tracking of Anatomy and Surgical Instruments in Monocular Laparoscopic Video Clips](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.19265/) (2024)

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

- [Stop Holding Your Breath: CT-Informed Gaussian Splatting for Dynamic Bronchoscopy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.28179/) (2026)
- [Self-Supervised Slice-to-Volume Reconstruction with Gaussian Representations for Fetal MRI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.22990/) (2026)
- [UltraG-Ray: Physics-Based Gaussian Ray Casting for Novel Ultrasound View Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.29022/) (2026)
- [3D Consistency Optimization for Self-Supervised Monocular Video Depth Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.15681/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We introduce BridgeSplat, a novel approach for deformable surgical navigation that couples intraoperative 3D reconstruction with preoperative CT data to bridge the gap between surgical video and volumetric patient data. Our method rigs 3D Gaussians to a CT mesh, enabling joint optimization of Gaussian parameters and mesh deformation through photometric supervision. By parametrizing each Gaussian relative to its parent mesh triangle, we enforce alignment between Gaussians and mesh and obtain deformations that can be propagated back to update the CT. We demonstrate BridgeSplat's effectiveness on visceral pig surgeries and synthetic data of a human liver under simulation, showing sensible deformations of the preoperative CT on monocular RGB data. Code, data, and additional resources can be found at https://maxfehrentz.github.io/ct-informed-splatting/ .