A New Hybrid Viscoelastic Soft Tissue Model based on Meshless Method for Haptic Surgical Simulation

Area of Science:

• Medical Simulation
• Computational Mechanics
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Accurate soft tissue modeling is crucial for realistic surgical simulations.
• Existing meshless methods require improvements in simulating complex viscoelastic behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a hybrid soft tissue model for enhanced surgical simulation.
• To improve the accuracy and real-time performance of meshless-based surgical simulators.

Main Methods:

• A hybrid model combining multilayer structures and spheres using a meshless approach.
• Incorporation of a three-parameter viscoelastic model (TPM) with tension for improved accuracy.
• Mathematical derivation of stress relaxation and creep formulas for the TPM.
• Validation against experimental data of real pig liver tissue.

Main Results:

• The TPM accurately reproduces deformation, stress-strain, stress relaxation, and creep properties.
• TPM's simulation results closely match experimental data from pig liver.
• The proposed model demonstrates superior real-time performance, stability, and accuracy.

Conclusions:

• The hybrid soft tissue model with TPM offers a significant advancement in surgical simulation fidelity.
• This model provides a more realistic and reliable tool for surgical training and planning.
• The validated TPM is suitable for complex soft tissue simulations in virtual surgical environments.