Development of a virtual reality training simulator for robot-assisted dura mater suturing in endonasal neurosurgery

Abstract

Manual suturing of dura mater after endonasal tumor resection is a difficult task in neurosurgery due to the constrained workspace and narrow field of view, requiring hours of training. Master-slave robotic systems are being developed to support such a complex task; however, the neurosurgeons still need to adapt themselves to the new robotic systems. We propose the development of a virtual reality simulation for surgical training of robot-assisted dura mater suturing. The simulator is also useful to test the robot inside a safe environment without risking the physical prototype.