Real-time ultrasound simulator for kidney intervention training

加拿大医科大学正在过渡到一个新的培训模式，称为能力为基础的医学教育，要求学员的进展是经常监测和定量评估方面的专家基准，其中学习程序技能在模拟环境中是一个重要组成部分。Marion开发并销售了一种名为K181的医疗模拟器，用于在模拟X射线透视引导下进行经皮（基于针）肾脏介入。学员被放置在由头戴式虚拟现实显示器提供的虚拟手术环境中，并操纵模拟针头的触觉设备。 不幸的是，X射线透视使患者和医生暴露于有害辐射。超声在经皮介入治疗中越来越受欢迎，它是一种安全、无辐射且经济实惠的选择，可提供出色的针头放置准确性、更短的手术时间和更低的总体成本。 我们建议开发一种新的实时方法，用于为Marion Surgical生成临床逼真的合成超声图像，以集成到其现有的创收K181医疗模拟器产品中。 生成实时合成超声图像的能力将使Marion能够扩展其K181医疗模拟器产品，以支持广泛的超声引导针式手术，这将大大扩大和加强Marion的市场占有率。 加拿大患者将以多种方式从该项目中受益。由此产生的系统将改善临床泌尿外科从业人员的教育和培训，他们将在整个职业生涯中执行这些程序。Marion的K181套件将促进超声引导下的针放置干预作为各种诊断和治疗程序的护理标准，从而提高患者安全性，降低成本和并发症，对加拿大医疗保健的质量产生直接的积极影响。

Canadian medical universities are transitioning to a new training paradigm called Competency-based Medical Education, requiring that trainee progress is frequently monitored and quantitatively assessed with respect to expert benchmarks, in which learning procedural skills in a simulated environment is an essential component. Marion has developed and marketed a medical simulator, called K181, for percutaneous (needle-based) kidney interventions under simulated X-ray fluoroscopy guidance. Trainees are placed in a virtual surgical environment provided by a head-mounted virtual reality display and manipulate a haptic device simulating the needle. Unfortunately, X-ray fluoroscopy exposes the patient and physician to harmful radiation. Ultrasound has been increasingly popular in percutaneous interventions, being a safe, radiation-free, and affordable option that offers excellent needle placement accuracy, shorter procedure times and overall reduced costs. We propose to develop a novel real-time method for generating clinically realistic synthetic ultrasound images for Marion Surgical to integrate into their existing and revenue generating K181 medical simulator product. The capability of generating real-time synthetic ultrasound imagery will allow Marion to extend their K181 medical simulator product to support a wide array of ultrasound-guided needle-based procedures, which should significantly enlarge and strengthen Marion's market presence. Canadian patients will benefit from this project in multiple ways. The resulting system will improve on the education and training of clinical urology practitioners who will perform these procedures throughout their careers. Marion's K181 suite will promote ultrasound-guided needle placement interventions as the standard of care in a wide array of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, leading to higher patient safety with reduced costs and complications, with direct positive impact on the quality of Canadian health care.