Investigating the role of simulation fidelity in laparascopic surgical training

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS), with its aptitude for quick recovery and minimal scarring, has revolutionized surgery over the past few years. As a result, the development of a VR-based surgical trainer for MIS has been a popular area of research. However, there still remains a fundamental question of how realistic the simulation has to be for effective training. On the one hand, learning surgical practices with an unrealistic model may lead to negative training transfer. However, because of the learning abilities and perceptual limitations of the sensory, motor, and cognitive system of the human user, perfect simulation is unnecessary. Furthermore, given the large variations in human anatomy and physiology, there is no single perfect model. The question is how simple a simulation can we get away with, while at the same time preserving a level of fidelity between the virtual and real organ behavior that leads to positive training transfer. A dual station experimental platform was set up for this study. The two stations consisted of a real environment testing station and a virtual environment training station. The fidelity of the simulation could easily be adjusted in the virtual training station so that subjects could be treated with different modes of training. With the dual station setup the real environment performance of a subject before and after VE training could be measured.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2002

Author dc:creator

• Kim, Hyun K. (Hyun Kyu), 1977-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Mandayam A. Srinivasan.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34133

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/34133