Improved simulation of virtual bone drilling surgery with a voxel-based model

Abstract

Virtual surgery simulation provides a safe, cost-effective and a repeatable alternative to traditional surgical training methods. The simulation is expected to not only simulate the graphical changes in the surgery, but also to provide a haptic response via a force feedback device. The objective of this study is to develop a virtual bone drilling simulation system and focus on the key issues that limit surgical simulations like the virtual bone drilling of spine surgery. A voxel-based bone model is developed and the algorithms (based on the model) are presented in this work. To provide operators with a realistic environment, dual thread technology is used for graphic and haptic rendering of the virtual bone drilling simulation. Such a surgical simulation system can be very helpful in surgical training.