A Pc-Based Surgical Simulator for Laparoscopic Surgery

Surgical simulators for minimally invasive surgery have been developing in the 1990s. Most of them use high-end UNIX workstations for real-time simulation of complex human organ models. Only few of them have input devices with force feedback. Recently, personal computer technologies have made real-time display of relatively complex models feasible. We are developing an Intel-based laparoscopic surgical simulator that provides near real-time intuitive interaction between the trainee and simulated models of human organs. The surgical simulator has a prototypical scenario of cholecystectomic surgery. It can interactively simulate the deformation and cutting of cystic duct and vein. In addition, a set of input devices with force feedback has been designed and tested to imitate the manipulation of surgical instruments. The input device has five degrees of freedom and three of them are driven by DC motors to produce force feedback.