Haptic augmented and virtual reality system for simulation of surgical procedures

1. A method of performing a simulated surgical procedure that includes open surgery steps and microsurgery steps using a haptic augmented and virtual reality system, the method comprising steps of:

performing at least one open surgery step of a simulated surgical procedure using an open surgery station, the open surgery station comprising:

a first haptic device comprising a hand-held stylus and driven by haptics rendering logic, wherein the first haptic device tracks a user's hand movements and provides force feedback to the user;

a first display system driven by graphics logic, wherein the first display system comprises a display screen and a head tracking system, and provides a dynamic user-centered perspective of open surgical views of a portion of a virtual patient's anatomy and at least a first virtual surgical instrument, wherein the virtual instrument is visually superimposed over the hand-held stylus of the haptic device, permitting the user to see both the virtual instrument and the user's hands, and moves as the stylus moves based on data received from the first haptic device; and

open surgery station logic that integrates the haptics rendering logic and the graphics logic and provides real-time simulation of the open surgery steps of the surgical procedure, including updating the open surgical views in real time in response to user operations performed with the first haptic device and according to the orientation of the user's head by the head tracking system; and

performing at least one micro-surgery step of a simulated surgical procedure using a microsurgery station, the microsurgery station comprising:

a second haptic device driven by haptics rendering logic, wherein the second haptic device tracks the user's hand movements and provides force feedback to the user;

a second display system driven by graphics logic, wherein the second display system comprises a binocular surgical microscope eyepiece and display screens configured to allow the user to acquire depth perception, and provides microsurgical views of a portion of the virtual patient's anatomy and at least a second virtual surgical instrument whose position is simulated based on data received from the second haptic device; and

microsurgery station logic that integrates the haptics rendering logic and the graphics logic and provides real-time simulation of the microsurgery steps of the surgical procedure including updating the microsurgical surgical views in real time in response to user operations performed with the second haptic device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the simulated surgical procedure is an aneurysm clipping procedure on a simulated patient head.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein:

performing the at least one open surgery step of a simulated surgical procedure comprises:

drilling a plurality of burr holes that define a bone flap location in the simulated patient head;

performing a craniotomy;

performing dural opening; and

performing the at least one micro-surgery step of a simulated surgical procedure comprises:

performing Sylvian fissure dissection;

performing tissue dissection around an aneurysm of the simulated patient head;

placing an aneurysm clip and closing the aneurysm clip on a neck of the aneurysm.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein performing the at least one open surgery step of a simulated surgical procedure comprises performing burr hole drilling on the simulated patient head including steps of:

(a) superimposing an image of a burr tool over the first haptic device using the first display system, the burr tool being selected by the user from an instrument library that includes a plurality of virtual surgical instruments that can each be selected by the user; and

(b) drilling a plurality of burr holes that define a bone flap location in the patient anatomy, wherein a volume haptics rendering module of the system calculates a force that the user is exerting on the tool to progressively remove bone volume and outputs the calculated force to the hand-held stylus, and a volume graphics rendering module of the system calculates progressive visual disappearance of bone volume and outputs the calculated progressive visual disappearance of bone volume to the first display system.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein performing the at least one open surgery step of a simulated surgical procedure further comprises performing a craniotomy on the simulated patient head including steps of:

(a) superimposing an image of a craniotome over the first haptic device using the first display system, the craniotome being selected by the user from the instrument library; and

(b) performing the craniotomy, wherein the volume haptics rendering module calculates force that the user is exerting on the tool to progressively remove bone volume and outputs the calculated force to the hand-held stylus, and the volume graphics rendering module calculates progressive visual disappearance of bone volume and outputs the progressive visual disappearance of bone volume to the first display system.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein performing the at least one open surgery step of a simulated surgical procedure further comprises performing dural opening on the simulated patient head including steps of:

(a) superimposing an image of a craniotome over the first haptic device using the first display system, the craniotome being selected by the user from the instrument library; and

(b) cutting an opening in the simulated dura mater, wherein the volume haptics rendering module calculates force that the user is exerting on the tool to progressively cut dura and outputs the calculated force to the hand-held stylus, and the volume graphics rendering module calculates progressive visualized cutting of the dura and outputs the calculated progressive visualized cutting of the dura to the first display system.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising a step of transferring display of the simulated patient head with craniotomy and dural opening from the open station to the microsurgery station.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein performing the at least one micro-surgery step of a simulated surgical procedure comprises performing Sylvian fissure dissection on the simulated patient head including steps of:

(a) displaying images of two or more virtual surgical tools, including a dissection tool, on the second display system, the tools selected by the user from an instrument library that includes a plurality of virtual surgical instruments that can each be selected by the user; and

(b) cutting tissues of the simulated patient head that adhere to and connect frontal and temporal lobes, so as to open the Sylvian fissure, wherein a haptics rendering module of the system calculates a force that the user is exerting on the dissection tool to cut the tissues and outputs the calculated force to the second haptic device.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein performing the at least one micro-surgery step of a simulated surgical procedure further comprises performing tissue dissection around an aneurysm of the simulated patient head including a step of:

cutting tissues and blood vessels of the simulated patient head to prepare an open space in which an aneurysm clip can be placed, wherein the haptics rendering module of the system calculates a force that the user is exerting on the dissection tool and outputs the calculated force to the second haptic device.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein performing the at least one micro-surgery step of a simulated surgical procedure further comprises placing an aneurysm clip including steps of:

(a) displaying an image of a selected aneurysm clip on the second display system, the aneurysm clip being selected by the user from a clip library of the system; and

(b) placing the aneurysm clip, in which the haptics rendering module calculates force that the user is exerting on the virtual clip holder and outputs the calculated force to the second haptic device, and the graphics rendering module calculates progressive visualized closing of the aneurysm clip around the aneurysm and outputs the calculated progressive visualized closing to the second display system.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing at least one open surgery step of a simulated surgical procedure comprises selecting a virtual surgical instrument from an instrument library that includes a plurality of virtual surgical instruments that can each be selected by a user and displayed by the first display system.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the virtual surgical instruments include a burr tool, a craniotome, and micro-scissors.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing at least one microsurgery step of a simulated surgical procedure comprises selecting a virtual surgical instrument from an instrument library that includes a plurality of virtual surgical instruments that can each be selected by a user and displayed by the second display system.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the virtual surgical instruments include bipolar forceps, an arachnoid knife, a brain retractor, a suction tip, a clip holder, an ultrasound blood flow probe, a dissection tool, and micro-scissors.