VR-based training of craniotomy for intracranial aneurysm surgery.

Allgaier, Mareen; Amini, Amir; Neyazi, Belal; Sandalcioglu, I. Erol; Preim, Bernhard; Saalfeld, Sylvia

doi:10.1007/s11548-021-02538-3

by Mareen Allgaier, Amir Amini, Belal Neyazi, I. Erol Sandalcioglu, Bernhard Preim, Sylvia Saalfeld

Abstract:

PURPOSE: Intracranial aneurysms can be treated micro-surgically. This procedure involves an appropriate head position of the patient and a proper craniotomy. These steps enable a proper access, facilitating the subsequent steps. To train the access planning process, we propose a VR-based training system. METHOD: We designed and implemented an immersive VR access simulation, where the user is surrounded by a virtual operating room, including medical equipment and virtual staff. The patient's head can be positioned via hand rotation and an arbitrary craniotomy contour can be drawn. The chosen access can be evaluated by exposing the aneurysm using a microscopic view. RESULTS: The evaluation of the simulation took place in three stages: testing the simulation using the think-aloud method, conducting a survey and examining the precision of drawing the contour. Although there are differences between the virtual interactions and their counterparts in reality, the participants liked the immersion and felt present in the operating room. The calculated surface dice similarity coefficient, Hausdorff distance and feedback of the participants show that the difficulty of drawing the craniotomy is appropriate. CONCLUSION: The presented training simulation for head positioning and access planning benefits from the immersive environment. Thus, it is an appropriate training for novice neurosurgeons and medical students with the goal to improve anatomical understanding and to become aware of the importance of the right craniotomy hole.

Reference:

VR-based training of craniotomy for intracranial aneurysm surgery. (Mareen Allgaier, Amir Amini, Belal Neyazi, I. Erol Sandalcioglu, Bernhard Preim, Sylvia Saalfeld), In International journal of computer assisted radiology and surgery, volume 17, 2022.

Bibtex Entry:

@article{allgaier_vr-based_2022,
	title = {{VR}-based training of craniotomy for intracranial aneurysm surgery.},
	volume = {17},
	copyright = {© 2021. The Author(s).},
	issn = {1861-6429 1861-6410 1861-6410},
	doi = {10.1007/s11548-021-02538-3},
	abstract = {PURPOSE: Intracranial aneurysms can be treated micro-surgically. This procedure  involves an appropriate head position of the patient and a proper craniotomy.  These steps enable a proper access, facilitating the subsequent steps. To train  the access planning process, we propose a VR-based training system. METHOD: We  designed and implemented an immersive VR access simulation, where the user is  surrounded by a virtual operating room, including medical equipment and virtual  staff. The patient's head can be positioned via hand rotation and an arbitrary  craniotomy contour can be drawn. The chosen access can be evaluated by exposing  the aneurysm using a microscopic view. RESULTS: The evaluation of the simulation  took place in three stages: testing the simulation using the think-aloud method,  conducting a survey and examining the precision of drawing the contour. Although  there are differences between the virtual interactions and their counterparts in  reality, the participants liked the immersion and felt present in the operating  room. The calculated surface dice similarity coefficient, Hausdorff distance and  feedback of the participants show that the difficulty of drawing the craniotomy  is appropriate. CONCLUSION: The presented training simulation for head  positioning and access planning benefits from the immersive environment. Thus, it  is an appropriate training for novice neurosurgeons and medical students with the  goal to improve anatomical understanding and to become aware of the importance of  the right craniotomy hole.},
	language = {eng},
	number = {3},
	journal = {International journal of computer assisted radiology and surgery},
	author = {Allgaier, Mareen and Amini, Amir and Neyazi, Belal and Sandalcioglu, I. Erol and Preim, Bernhard and Saalfeld, Sylvia},
	month = mar,
	year = {2022},
	pmid = {34931299},
	pmcid = {PMC8873137},
	keywords = {*Intracranial Aneurysm/surgery, *Simulation Training/methods, *Virtual Reality, Computer Simulation, Craniotomy, Feedback, Humans, Intracranial aneurysm, Surgical training, Virtual reality},
	pages = {449--456}
}