Realistic Techniques for Virtual Surgery

描述(由申请人提供)： 虽然预计基于虚拟现实的模拟器用于微创手术(MIS)，具有视觉和触觉(触摸)反馈，将深刻影响医学教育和培训，从而大幅减少手术室错误和发病率，并改善患者预后，但当前的技术非常不足以解决此类模拟器中的逼真模拟和渲染问题。当前项目的目标是通过开发(1)基于物理的技术来实时计算软生物组织的变形以及手术工具与组织相互作用时对手术工具的反作用力，以及(2)增强视觉真实感的方案来提高模拟的管理信息系统过程的真实感，该方案将允许在模拟过程中使用实际手术场景的视频图像来呈现“栩栩如生”的图像。提出了组织的非线性行为模拟和外科手术切割。 这些目标是新的，涉及相当大的风险，因为(1)基于物理的计算技术最近被开发为一种令人兴奋的替代有限元类技术的相对缓慢的性能，但对于软组织或外科切割的非线性行为的建模，该技术的效率尚不清楚，以及(2)视觉渲染算法以前从未被应用于手术模拟。然而，如果成功，这些方案有可能成为手术模拟技术的标准，因为可以很容易地为各种管理信息系统程序获得图像，并且可以执行基于物理的计算。实验包括实际变形场和相互作用力的测量，以验证模拟的有效性。虽然这个项目的重点是管理信息系统，但开发的技术将成为更广泛类别的医疗程序的原型。从长远来看，现实的医疗模拟器的存在将使医疗保健受益于住院医生培训之外的其他方面，例如，在设计新的手术工具、新的手术技术，甚至治疗的替代输送系统方面。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): While it is anticipated that the use of virtual reality based simulators for minimally invasive surgery (MIS), with both visual and haptic (touch) feedback, would profoundly influence medical education and training leading to substantial reduction in operating room errors and morbidity as well as better patient outcomes, the current technology is quite inadequate to address the issues of realistic simulation and rendering in such simulators. The goal of the current project is to improve the realism of simulated MIS procedures by developing (1) a physically based technique for computing, in real time, the deformation of soft biological tissues as well as the reaction forces on the surgical tool as it interacts with the tissue, and (2) a scheme for enhancing visual realism which will allow the use of video images of actual surgical scenes to render "life like" images during simulation. Simulation of nonlinear behavior of tissues as well as surgical cutting are proposed. The aims are novel and involve considerable risk since (1) the physically based computational technique has been recently developed as an exciting alternative to the relatively slow performance of finite element-like techniques, but it is not known how efficient the technique is for modeling the nonlinear behavior of soft tissues or surgical cutting, and (2) the visual rendering algorithms have not been previously applied to surgical simulation. However, if successful, the schemes have the potential of becoming the standards in surgical simulation technology due to the ease with which images can be obtained for various MIS procedures and the physically based computations can be performed. Experiments involving the measurements of actual deformation fields and interaction forces will be performed to validate the simulations. While the particular focus of this project is MIS, the technology developed will be prototypes for a much wider class of medical procedures. In the long run, the existence of realistic medical simulators would accrue benefits to healthcare outside the training of residents, for instance, in the design of new surgical tools, novel surgical techniques and even alternative delivery systems for therapeutics.