Development of a Surgical Simulation System

The goal of this two phase project is to develop a surgical simulation system for arthroscopic and laproscopic surgery. This system will immediately improve physician training, and with further development, would be a vehicle for remote care delivery. Minimally invasive surgery promises to change the practice of medicine in many specialties. Because of the decreased trauma hospital stays are shortened, procedures can be performed on an outpatient basis, and tools can be used for diagnosis in the office. Training difficulties are one impediment to this trend. Minimally invasive surgery is more difficult then open surgery, and requires adaptation to new tools and constraints. The surgical simulator technology speeds up training making it possible for more surgeons to use less invasive procedures and allowing more complex procedures to be performed. The goal of the phase I project is to demonstrate a prototype of a minimally invasive surgical simulation system. A 4 degree-of-freedom force feedback arthroscopic tool holder will be slaved to a synthetic knee arthroscope display. Users will be able to touch objects with the tools and feel the resulting tool forces. The intensity of the feedback will be adjustable to intensify the differences between objects and enhance learning. Anticipated Benefits: The surgical simulator is a commercial product of use to the DOD, NASA, and all major teaching hospitals and centers. In addition, the 4 DOF tool holder component of the surgical simulator has application as a virtual reality manipulator for research. Finally, it could be used as a small robotic device for test-tubes, pharmaceutical production, and silcon wafer facilities.