Realistic Virtual Reality Simulation of Touching Hard Tumors Beneath Soft Tissue

Abstract

Touch has always been central to many aspects of medical practice. The surgeon working deep inside the abdominal cavity will feel and squeeze the liver to determine which, if any, nodule to biopsy. Palpation of a female breast is a sensitive means for detecting malignancies. Surgeons and pathologists routinely take advantage of the fact that cancers feel different than normal tissue.