Pre-Operative Planning for Total hip Replacement using a Desktop Haptic
Interface
N.G.Tsagarakis, and Darwin G.Caldwell
Dept. of Electronic and Electrical Eng.,
Telford Building, University of Salford,
Manchester,M5 4WT, UK
Tel: +44-(0)161-2954010
Email: n.tsagarakis@salford.ac.uk
Abstract - In recent years, the use of haptic devices to
provide this sense of touch in medical applications has
expanded rapidly since they have the potential to
revolutionize medical education and training, and
surgical planning, by providing effective force/touch
feedback during the execution of the medical tasks.
Generic haptic devices like the Impulse engine and the
PHANToM device have been used in various medical
simulations particularly in minimally invasive surgery
(MIS) applications. Each of these instruments,
software and techniques forms a useful first step in
providing haptic feedback for surgical simulation but
mostly their facilities are currently limited to MIS. In
this paper we present the application of a desktop
haptic interface in the pre-operative planning of the
open surgery procedure for total hip replacement. The
haptic interface consists of a double closed five bar
mechanism which can be configured as a single or
twin hand system to satisfy the haptic task
requirements of the hip replacement planning
application.
I. INTRODUCTION
The sense of touch is crucial for medical training. Many,
if not most, diagnostic, surgical and interventional
procedures require that physicians train and utilize their
sense of touch. Haptic devices have the potential to
revolutionize medical education and training, and surgical
planning, by providing effective force/touch feedback
during the execution of the medical tasks and their use in
medical applications has expanded rapidly in recent years.
Specific medical applications include surgical simulators,
medical education and training, surgical planning,
scientific analysis and the design of new surgical
procedures. Typically, the main approach is the use of
general purpose force feedback systems although devices
designed for specific operations have also been employed.
In the commercial arena, the leading vendors for the
development of force feedback devices are Immersion
Corporation and SensAble Technologies. Two of the
systems that have been widely used in medical
applications are the Immersion laparoscopic engine (a
device dedicated for laparoscopic operations) [Burdea,
1996] and the Phantom Haptic interface (a general
purpose force feedback device) from SensAble [Masie
and Salisbury, 1994]. The LAPAROSCOPIC IMPULSE
ENGINE is a high fidelity interface, which has been
designed as an input/output device for virtual reality
simulations of laparoscopic and endoscopic surgical
procedures. It permits tracking of the movements of the
user and conveys high fidelity tactile sensations through
force feedback. A pair of Impulse Engines is used inside
the Karlsruhe Endoscopic Surgerical Trainer [Hnapfel et
al., 1997]. A laparoscopic cholecystectomy surgical
training software system has been developed by [Webster
et al., 2003] using the Immersion Laparoscopic Surgical
Workstation. The impulse engine is also used inside the
ENT surgical simulator [Wiet et al., 1997][Yagel et al.,
1996]. Examples of PHANTOM applications in medical
simulators include the Virtual Reality Dental Training
System (VRDTS), which has been developed to allow
training on cavity preparation, the SPINE BIOPSY
SIMULATOR [Cleary et al., 1997], and the arthroscopic
knee surgery simulator [Gibson et al., 1996].
Apart from the above commercial systems, other systems
have also been developed for specific applications. The
Pantoscope is a four dof force-reflecting interface
designed for virtual reality based minimally invasive
surgery simulation [Baumann et al., 1997][ Baur et al.,
1998]. The SKULLBASE force feedback telemanipulation
system is a two degrees of freedom joystick equipped
with actuators to generate the forces from the force sensor
during bone milling around the brain[Flemmer et al., 2002
and 2003]. In addition to haptic devices designed purely
for simulation there are a number of systems that can be
used both preoperatively and interoperatively. The
ACROBOT is a device that has been designed for knee
surgery [Davies et al., 1997][Zivanovic, et al., 2003]
while the BURKELEY telesurgical workstation for
laparscopy uses a commercial 4 DOF force-reflecting
joystick device (Immersion Systems Impulse Engine
3000) which is extended with additional degrees of
freedom and a stylus-like handle [Cavusoglu et al.,
1999,2001]. As it can be seen from that above examples
although there are wide variations in the applications most
use commercial systems such as the PHANToM, or
Immersion Impulse engine.
In this work we present the application of a desktop haptic
system, which is able to measure position, and orientation
imposed by the medical Users, and feedback the contacts
(position, orientation and force) under program control
during the execution of pre-operating procedures for the
total hip replacement operation. This haptic interface can
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