Virtual Reality Techniques in the Domain of Surgical Simulators

Abstract

Virtual reality based surgical simulators offer an elegant approach to enhancing traditional training in surgery. For interactive surgery simulation to be useful, however, there are several requirements needed to be fulfilled. A good visualisation is needed. The physical behavior of an organ must be modeled realistically. Finally there is a need of a device capable of force feedback to realize the possibility of ``feeling'' a virtual object. In this thesis a basic prototype was developed to demonstrate all necessary concepts needed in a surgical simulator. The study was aimed at finding a suitable architecture and design for development of a surgical simulation application which is conceptually clear and easy to comprehend. Moreover, it was considered important that the prototype can provide a good basis for further experimentation. The main focus was on finding a satisfactory method that demonstrates the main concepts, while keeping the complexity as low as possible. In the developed prototype, the visual impression of 3D is present, the haptic feedback works satisfactory, and the physical modelling proved to be feasible for simulating a virtual object. The object oriented design resulted in a compact and clear application, where changes in the implementation can be applied locally without unwanted implications elsewhere in the code. Due to these qualities, implementing multi resolution and cutting was an easy task. Only minor changes to limited parts of the application was needed. This shows its suitability as a starting point for future experimenting and demonstration of consepts, in the field of surgical simulation.