Virtual reality based laparoscopic surgery simulation

Abstract

With the development of computer graphic and haptic devices, training surgeons with virtual reality technology has proven to be very effective in surgery simulation. Many successful simulators have been deployed for training medical students. However, due to the various unsolved technical issues, the laparoscopic surgery simulation has not been widely used. Such issues include modeling of complex anatomy structure, large soft tissue deformation, frequent surgical tools interactions, and the rendering of complex material under the illumination of headlight. A successful laparoscopic surgery simulator should integrate all these required components in a balanced and efficient manner to achieve both visual/haptic quality and a satisfactory refreshing rate. In this paper, we propose an efficient framework integrating a set of specially tailored and designed techniques, ranging from deformation simulation, collision detection, soft tissue dissection and rendering. We optimize all the components based on the actual requirement of laparoscopic surgery in order to achieve an improved overall performance of fidelity and responding speed.