MAKING SURGICAL SIMULATIONS A REALITY: TECHNICAL AND PRACTICAL ISSUES FOR APPLICATIONS IN MEDICINE

James K. Hahn: Chairman, Department of Computer Science http://www.cs.gwu.edu, Director, Institute for Biomedical Engineering http://www.ibe.gwu.edu, Director, Institute for Computer Graphics http://www.icg.gwu.edu, The George Washington University, 801 22nd St. NW Suite 703, Washington, DC 20052 (TEL) 202-994-6779 (FAX) 202-994-4875 (E-Mail) hahn@gwu.edu

Abstract

Surgical simulators have been developed especially in the past few years for enhancing the training of physicians, reducing the number of animals and cadavers, flexibility of training scenarios and for preoperative planning. Despite their potential benefits, and the fact that they have precedence in flight simulators, there are very few simulators in current use. This is primarily due to the lack of understanding of fundamentally what is required for them to be useful, and the fact that the problem is interdisciplinary. This interdisciplinary nature has lead to difficulties in forming a productive team. In this paper, we discuss the technical and practical issues in developing useful surgical simulators. Two case studies representative of the strengths of weaknesses of the technology is presented, including simulation of procedures in the Cryotherapy of the prostate and interventional radiology.

Short Biography

James K. Hahn: James K. Hahn is currently a full professor and the chairman of the Department of Computer Science at the George Washington University where he has been a faculty since 1989. He is the founding director of the GW Institute for Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Computer Graphics. His areas of interests are: medical simulation, image-guided surgery, medical informatics, visualization, and motion control. He is one of the pioneers in the areas of physics-based motion control in computer animation and sound in computer graphics. He received his Ph.D. in Computer and Information Science from the Ohio State University in 1989, an MS in Physics from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1981, and a dual degree (BS in Physics and a BS in Mathematics and Computer Science) from the University of South Carolina, Columbia in 1979.