Research and development of a virtual reality finite element based model with the purpose of enabling surgical training and improved treatment practices - Exploratory phase

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Spinal surgeries are amongst the most complex from a biomechanical perspective considering the spine is anintricate mechanical system. Conventional training of spine surgeries is very costly and not optimized towardsskillset acquisition. The purpose of this exploratory phase project is to conceive a 3D model of the spine,surrounding tissues, and nerves. Completion of this step will then lead towards the subsequent collaborationsaimed to perform research, development and experimental validation of new virtual reality platform, inclusiveof haptic feedback, focusing of common spinal surgical procedures.In brief, a virtual reality surgical trainer, targeting spine surgery, comprises a visual display of an open spinewith which a clinician interacts by means of surgical tool haptic controls. The feedback, both haptic and visual,are provided by FEA based computations in real-time and then the user may virtually perform a surgicalprocedure. The technical challenge lies in the conception of a 3D spine model and then the discretization of afinite element model optimized for parallel computing on the graphical processing unit for real-time analysis.This project, an exploratory phase collaboration planned between CAE Healthcare and Prof. Driscoll fromMcGill University, will seek to achieve this first step towards the commercial offering of a computationallyfinite element based surgical virtual reality trainer for spine procedures. In addition to this targeted outcome,the collaboration and training of students will be of benefit to the growing demand of biomedical engineers inCanada. An inter-disciplinary research team with relevant competence in conjunction with the granting of thisNSERC Engage application will insure such benefits come to fruition.