Proposal of Simulation-Based Surgical Navigation and Development of Laparoscopic Surgical Simulator that Reflects Motion of Surgical Instruments in Real-World

This study proposes simulation-based surgical navigation concept and describes the development of a laparoscopic surgical simulator that reflects the motion of surgical instruments in the real world. In the proposed simulation-based surgical navigation, movements of the surgical instruments are captured by a motion capture system, and the movements of the real surgical instruments are reflected in the movements of the virtual instruments in the simulation in real time. Contact of the virtual surgical instruments with organ model is detected based on the signed distance field (SDF) made around the organ model. The deformations of organs caused by contacts are calculated using dynamic finite element method (FEM). Using a cubic elastic object made of urethane resin, the accuracy of the calculation of the deformation was verified. The average error in the deformation verification experiments was within 1 mm. Simulations using hepato-biliary-pancreatic finite element (FE) models were performed, and computational costs of the simulation were validated. The time for one loop simulation with a hepato-biliary-pancreatic FE model of 3,225 elements and 1,663 nodes was 50 ms. The developed simulator can be applied to a simulation-based navigation system to update the states of organs in real time.