Purpose: A virtual reality (VR) system, where surgeons can practice
procedures on virtual anatomies, is a scalable and cost-effective alternative
to cadaveric training. The fully digitized virtual surgeries can also be used
to assess the surgeon's skills using measurements that are otherwise hard to
collect in reality. Thus, we present the Fully Immersive Virtual Reality System
(FIVRS) for skull-base surgery, which combines surgical simulation software
with a high-fidelity hardware setup.
Methods: FIVRS allows surgeons to follow normal clinical workflows inside the
VR environment. FIVRS uses advanced rendering designs and drilling algorithms
for realistic bone ablation. A head-mounted display with ergonomics similar to
that of surgical microscopes is used to improve immersiveness. Extensive
multi-modal data is recorded for post-analysis, including eye gaze, motion,
force, and video of the surgery. A user-friendly interface is also designed to
ease the learning curve of using FIVRS.
Results: We present results from a user study involving surgeons with various
levels of expertise. The preliminary data recorded by FIVRS differentiates
between participants with different levels of expertise, promising future
research on automatic skill assessment. Furthermore, informal feedback from the
study participants about the system's intuitiveness and immersiveness was
positive.
Conclusion: We present FIVRS, a fully immersive VR system for skull-base
surgery. FIVRS features a realistic software simulation coupled with modern
hardware for improved realism. The system is completely open-source and
provides feature-rich data in an industry-standard format.Comment: IPCAI/IJCARS 202