Endoscopie neurosurgery simulation: Implementation on the evolution engine

摘要

The design and evaluation of Neurosurgical simulators has heretofore emphasized the training of ‘surgical technical skills’. Such commercial platforms generally exercise tool use and other low level sensori-motor tasks such as targeting and navigation for training surgical residents. We report on the development of a set of modules implemented within Digital Extreme's Evolution Engine, making use of game assets that are derived from pre-operative clinical scans. The simulator exercises trainees spatial reasoning skills in targeting based on ortho-planar and endoscopie views. The technical exposition presented here covers the extension of the game engine to support in-scene endoscopie cameras, and in-scene display monitors that are situated in view of the avatar, and by extension, visible to the surgical trainee while engaged in the surgical scenario.