Advancing surgical cutting guide flexibility: A hybrid physical and Augmented Reality solution for cranio-maxillofacial surgery

Cutting guides are widely used in cranio-maxillofacial surgery by providing mechanical references for precise bone resections and reducing intraoperative variability. Nevertheless, their rigid and patient-specific design requires dedicated CAD modeling and fabrication, making them time-consuming to produce and difficult to adapt when anatomical conditions or bone surfaces change. This work presents a hybrid surgical cutting guide that combines a physically adjustable device with Augmented Reality (AR) feedback to support intraoperative alignment in maxillofacial osteotomies. The concept merges the tactile reliability of conventional guides with the adaptability of digital visualization, enabling surgeons to fine-tune the cutting plane directly through AR tracking. Registration was performed using cephalometric landmarks and an inside-out tracking approach with HoloLens 2, allowing precise superimposition of virtual cutting planes onto 3D-printed mandibular models. The system was evaluated by both expert and novice operators under three feedback conditions: no AR, holographic overlay, and real-time distance guidance. Results showed that AR feedback was associated with improved positional accuracy, with mean linear deviations of 1.27±0.71mm and angular errors of 4.46±3.27°. Operator experience influenced overall performance, yet enhanced feedback compensated part of this variability. Combining physical and digital guidance can yield more adaptable, precise, and reusable osteotomy tools, paving the way for flexible surgical assistance in clinical settings.