Endoscopic endonasal haptic surgery simulator prototype: A rigid endoscope model

The use of surgical simulators with virtual reality allows surgeons to practice diverse types of procedures for minimizing any risk on patients during the real surgery. This paper describes a prototype for a Minimal Invasive Surgery (MIS) simulator with haptic feedback applied to an endoscopic endonasal surgery. The research is divided in three parts: the simulation of a rigid endoscope device with four degrees of freedom (pitch, yaw, roll and dolly), a simplified model of the nasal tissue for fast haptic rendering and the integration with a virtual reality simulation system with collision detection. The main contribution of the paper is the rigid endoscope model using a simple lever acting as a force transformer pivoting in the nostril. The obtained results show a suitable response of the system for an interactive simulation.