Project statement
The existing methods of surgical training often rely on traditional approaches, which
may not fully replicate the complexities of real surgical procedures. The challenge is to develop an Augmented Reality (AR) application specifically designed for surgical
training. This application should offer realistic surgical simulations and interactive
guidance, enhancing the training experience for medical professionals by providing a
more immersive and practical learning environment.
Abstract
This project aims to revolutionize surgical training by introducing an Augmented Reality
(AR) application. The application will leverage AR technology to create realistic surgical
simulations that offer an immersive training experience. Medical professionals using
the application will benefit from interactive guidance, allowing them to practice and
refine their surgical skills in a risk-free virtual environment. The goal is to bridge the gap
between theoretical knowledge and practical expertise, ultimately improving the quality
of surgical training.
Outcome
The project’s outcome is an innovative Augmented Reality (AR) application tailored for
surgical training. This application provides medical professionals with a realistic and
immersive environment to practice various surgical procedures. The interactive
guidance and simulations contribute to improved skill acquisition and proficiency. The
overall result is an advanced training tool that enhances the learning experience for
surgeons, ultimately leading to more competent and confident healthcare professionals
in the field of surgery.
Reference
Surgical simulation helps trainees to explore many clinical scenarios before experiencing them with patients. Augmented reality (AR) based on patients’ medical data is an innovative technique for medical education and neurosurgical practice outside the operating room. We propose an AR application for surgical training of pituitary tumor resection in order to help trainees understand different conditions of pituitary tumors and nearby vessels, especially arteries. Virtual objects of pituitary tumors and nearby arteries and veins are created from the image segmentation of multiple patients’ MRI data. To provide an immersive learning environment, we develop a gesture-based user interface based on a head-mounted display HoloLens2 which allows trainees to manipulate the visualization of virtual objects in real time, such as zooming in/out, panning and rotating the virtual objects. The proposed AR application can be used to simulate pituitary tumor resection at different levels of difficulty based on our database which contains various virtual models of pituitary tumors and the nearby vessels.
- E. C. Benzel, “Neurosurgery education: the pursuit of excellence,” Clin Neurosurg, vol. 57, pp. 49-55, 2010.
- K. A. Yaeger, S. A. Munich, R. W. Byrne, and I. M. Germano, “Trends in United States neurosurgery residency education and training over the last decade (2009–2019),” Neurosurgical Focus, vol. 48, no. 3, pp. E6, 2020.
- C. Burford, J. Hanrahan, A. Ansaripour, B. Smith, K. Sysum, K. Rajwani, et al., “Factors influencing medical student interest in a career in neurosurgery,” World Neurosurgery, vol. 122, pp. e367-e374, 2019.
- A. E. Lilly, B. Dakshayani et al., “Effect of preoperative teaching on anxiety level of patients with neurosurgery,” Indian Journal of Psychiatric Nursing, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 1, 2018.
- K. Adapa, S. Jain, R. Kanwar, T. Zaman, T. Taneja, J. Walker, et al., “Augmented reality in patient education and health literacy: a scoping review protocol,” BMJ open, vol. 10, no. 9, pp. e038416, 2020.
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9959349/