Development of a patient-specific surgical simulator for pediatric laparoscopic procedures.

The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate a pediatric patient-specific surgical simulator for the planning, practice, and validation of laparoscopic surgical procedures prior to intervention, initially focusing on the choledochal cyst resection and reconstruction scenario. The simulator is comprised of software elements including a deformable body physics engine, virtual surgical tools, and abdominal organs. Hardware components such as haptics-enabled hand controllers and a representative endoscopic tool have also been integrated. The prototype is able to perform a number of surgical tasks and further development work is under way to simulate the complete procedure with acceptable fidelity and accuracy.