Haptic rendering of guide wire manipulation in vascular surgery simulation

Haptic technology is highlighted in minimally invasive vascular surgery simulation. During the virtual reality-based surgery training, realistic haptic feedback can be provided by control devices to help enhance the surgeons´ surgical performance. In this paper, we present a haptic rendering scheme for the vascular surgery simulation. The scheme consists of a self-designed haptic device, a physics-based resistance model and a virtual coupling network. The resistance model considers not only the contact forces between the vasculature and the beam element model of the guide wire but also the blood flow resistance. The virtual coupling network is applied to guarantee safety of the manipulation and stability of the simulation. Experimental results verified that the haptic force is close to reality and of good usability.