A haptic simulator to increase laparoscopic force application sensitivity

• Published in: Studies in health technology and informatics Vol. 184; p. 273
• Main Authors: Long, Lindsay O, Singapogu, Ravikiran B, Arcese, Giovannina, Smith, Dane E, Burg, Timothy C, Pagano, Christopher C, Burg, Karen J L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands 2013
• Subjects: Biofeedback, Psychology - instrumentation; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; Humans; Laparoscopes; Laparoscopy - education; Laparoscopy - instrumentation; Physical Stimulation - instrumentation; Reproducibility of Results; Robotics - instrumentation; Sensitivity and Specificity; Stress, Mechanical; Touch; User-Computer Interface
• ISSN: 0926-9630
• DOI: 10.3233/978-1-61499-209-7-273

Laparoscopic surgery demands perceptual-motor skills that are fundamentally different from open surgery, and laparoscopists must be adept at perceiving tissue interaction at the surgical site and then applying precise amounts of forces through instruments without damaging tissues. A haptic simulator that emulates multiple salient laparoscopic tasks and renders differing degrees of forces was created. Two of the haptic skills tasks were evaluated in two studies to determine their ability to distinguish and then train laparoscopic force application sensitivity. Results suggested that the simulator has the capability of rendering salient force feedback information to which novices become increasingly more perceptually sensitive.