Augmented and Virtual Reality based approaches in Minimally Invasive Surgery training

Continuing development in surgical techniques has elevated the level of sophistication in surgery. In order to reduce trauma to healthy tissue of the patient body, scientists are continuously trying different technologies in surgery. Minimally Invasive Surgery is one of this new practices adopted by the surgeons, which allows doctors to operate on patient with minimal damage and this reduces the post-operative pain of the patient and prolonged hospital stay. The biggest drawback of this operation technique is its complexity. Due to this reason it takes a lot of practice and training for a surgeon to master this process before operating. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality simulation systems offer different solutions to this problem. In this short communication, recent advances in surgery simulation systems and how they are performing in teaching these techniques are discussed. In addition to it, a comparative study on contemporary augmented reality and virtual reality simulation systems in learning surgery has been also presented.