A virtual reality-based surgical simulation system for virtual neuroendoscopy

Abstract

Virtual reality technology has great potential benefit to practice of neurosurgery. Neurosurgery is a discipline of medicine and that specialty of surgery which provides the operative and non-operative management (i.e., prevention, diagnosis, evaluation, treatment, critical care, and rehabilitation) of disorders of the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their supporting structures and vascular supply. In this paper, we propose a neurosurgical simulation system which integrates the virtual reality technology and medicine. Using the slices of human brain scanning images, we reconstruct 3-dimensional virtual objects which closely resemble actual brain structures. This allows users to navigate inside the virtual ventricle in a realistic manner. By incorporating with intuitive graphical user interface, simulated graphics of endoscopic movement can convey a realistic response to user for medical training. © 2007 IEEE.