Technical skills measurement based on a cyber-physical system for endovascular surgery simulation

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Simulation
• Surgical Skills Assessment

Background:

• Quantifying medical skills, especially in simulator-based training for endovascular interventions, remains a significant challenge.
• Developing simulators that accurately replicate vascular morphology and mechanics while providing objective scoring is highly desirable.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and evaluate a cyber-physical system for objective quantification of technical skills in endovascular intervention training.
• To enable accurate assessment of user proficiency and identification of unnecessary movements during simulated procedures.

Main Methods:

• A cyber-physical system integrating optical sensors (catheter motion), magnetic trackers (hand motion capture), and opto-mechatronic sensors (catheter-tip interaction).
• Two pilot studies were conducted to differentiate between novice and expert skill levels and to measure extraneous movements.

Main Results:

• The system successfully measured proficiency levels, distinguishing between novices and experts, and even among novice users.
• Objective scoring was achieved using criteria such as sensitivity, reaction time, task completion time, and tissue integrity.
• The system also effectively quantified unnecessary motion during simulated procedures.

Conclusions:

• The developed cyber-physical system facilitates quantitative evaluation of skills in endovascular intervention training.
• This approach, potentially utilizing photoelastic materials for tissue modeling, can be extended to other medical domains for realistic skill assessment.