New Virtual Surgical Simulator Debuts in Germany

Researchers presented the latest innovation in surgical training at this year’s MEDICA 2018 conference in Düsseldorf, Germany — the HandsOn.surgery trainer. The new prototype was designed to help surgeons prepare for individual patient surgeries by enabling them to practice the surgery on a virtual simulator. The new technology, created by Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, offers surgeons the opportunity to extensively train for difficult procedures, such as the surgical placement of implantable hearing aids and the surgical treatment of tumor diseases. The new HandsOn.Surgery technology can help support physicians and surgeons in their education, all in an effort to minimize surgery time and reduce surgical mistakes. “The current approach of ‘see one, do one, teach one’ is obsolete,” said Volker Bruns, group manager of medical image processing for Fraunhofer. “Especially, as for risky interventions, patients cannot be used as a practice vehicle. Thus, training on patients is risky, and training with cadavers is expensive. Training on animal cadavers becomes more and more expensive, and training on 3D printed artifacts, while feasible, only allows for printed bones to be used once. Surgeons need to train on various models that range from easy to super complicated. They also need to train on both common and rare pathologies. T...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: R & D Source Type: news