Adapting Computer Game Technology to Build a Surgical Simulator

Stuart Ferguson
Queen’s University of Belfast
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Belfast BT9 5AH
U.K.

Abstract

Title: Adapting Computer Game Technology to Build a Surgical Simulator.

The purpose of this talk is to illustrate how developments in the field of Computer Game Technology can be applied to what appears to be a very different problem. A research project undertaken in collaboration with a surgical team at the Belfast Hospital for Sick Children is attempting to develop a cost effective training simulator for laproscopic surgical procedures. The requirements for this must include a  real-time graphical display that mimics the view the surgeons get from their  telescopic camera and input devices that behave like the laproscopic operating instruments. The Direct X and Open GL libraries and standard PC hardware now offer the opportunity for a surgical simulator application program to be developed that gives realistic looking, real-time display and interactive two handed input in with force feedback. The force feedback and collision detection algorithms allow the surgeons to practice realistic operating theatre procedures with a good degree of realism. In my talk I will demonstrate some of the elements of how the development of our surgical simulator is progressing.