August 16, 2006
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By Stacy Lawrence, Ziff Davis Internet
August 16, 2006
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Harvard Medical School, Albany Medical Center and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are collaborating to develop a new approach to surgical training—a virtual simulator that will allow surgeons to handle computer-generated organs with actual tools used in minimally invasive surgery.
Based on haptics, a science focused on the sense of touch, the new simulator is intended to provide an immersive environment for surgeons to touch, feel, and manipulate computer-generated 3-D tissues and organs with instruments handled in actual surgery. Not only might this be useful for surgical training, but it could provide a standardized assessment of surgical skill.
"The most important single factor that determines the success of a surgical procedure is the skill of the surgeon," notes Suvranu De, assistant professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering and director of the Advanced Computational Research Lab at Rensselaer.
The researchers published a description of their new computational technique in the June/July issue of the journal Presence. Beginning in the summer of 2006, their work will be supported by a $1.4 million, four-year grant from the NIH (National Institutes of Health). This funding will extend the original three-year exploratory NIH grant De received in 2004 to support the initial phases of the research.
For the complete article, see http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2004331,00.asp?kc=EWHCREMNL081605EOAD
Posted by rab5 at 05:50 PM
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