SensAble Technologies, Inc., the company that provides devices and toolkits used in medical simulators, is reporting that it has, together with Spanish firm GMV, developed “an expanded set of touch-enabled features in a major new version of insightArthroVR® arthroscopic knee and shoulder surgery simulator.” The sim is now being showcased at the ongoing Arthroscopy Association of North America (AANA) annual meeting in San Diego.
More about the device:
insightArthroVR teaches surgeons the essential skills of triangulation, camera orientation, and hand-eye coordination for shoulder and/or knee arthroscopy. The system uses two PHANTOM Omni® haptic devices from SensAble that allows the user to mimic surgical procedures using such tools as a probe and a burr. While surgeons follow GMV’s training modules on a computer screen, the haptic devices they hold literally “push back” on their hands as they perform virtual surgery on physical 3D knee and shoulder models. In addition, the system generates realistic sounds and can assess skills.
GMV’s team used SensAble’s OpenHaptics® software toolkit to develop the learning modules, and specify appropriate material properties and levels of force feedback — so that the student experiences the precise feeling of bone, cartilage, labrum, ligaments and tendons as they proceed through training exercises.
With insightArthroVR, surgical residents can better learn to identify knee and shoulder conditions at zero risk to the patient – and without the need for cadavers, which are costly or unavailable in some countries. Residents can train to perfection as they learn to distinguish the feeling of rough, damaged tissue compared to the smoothness of healthy tissue. They gain unlimited practice opportunities, with skill levels recorded for instructor review.
New features in the latest version of the insightArthroVR simulator expand the pathologic scenarios, training exercises and performance indicators in fundamental surgical procedures. For example, in the new version, surgical residents now can practice more steps in determining shoulder instability, or completing knee meniscetomies. The new version also adds more virtual instruments that the user can access during practice scenarios, including a tissue manipulator, basket grasper and anchors. All insightArthroVR instruments are touch-enabled so that the surgical resident can master their use under realistic scenarios.
GMV’s team used SensAble’s Press release: GMV’s Latest Arthroscopic Surgical Simulator Incorporates New “Virtual Touch” Scenarios Using SensAble’s Haptics…
Product page: insightArthroVR…
Product brochure…
Flashback: Force Feedback Haptic Technology Used in Surgical Drilling Simulator