Obstetric Ultrasound Simulator With Task-Based Training and Assessment

The increasing use of point-of-care (POC) ultrasound presents a challenge in providing efficient training to POC ultrasound users for whom formal training is not readily available. In response to this need, we developed an affordable compact laptop-based obstetric ultrasound training simulator. It offers a realistic scanning experience, task-based training, and performance assessment. The position and orientation of the sham transducer are tracked with 5 DoF on an abdomen-sized scan surface with the shape of a cylindrical segment. On the simulator, user interface is rendered a virtual torso whose body surface models the abdomen of the pregnant scan subject. A virtual transducer scans the virtual torso by following the sham transducer movements on the scan surface. A given 3-D training image volume is generated by combining several overlapping 3-D ultrasound sweeps acquired from the pregnant scan subject using a Markov random field-based approach. Obstetric ultrasound training is completed through a series of tasks, guided by the simulator and focused on three aspects: basic medical ultrasound, orientation to obstetric space, and fetal biometry. The scanning performance is automatically evaluated by comparing user-identified anatomical landmarks with reference landmarks preinserted by sonographers. The simulator renders 2-D ultrasound images in real time with 30 frames/s or higher with good image quality; the training procedure follows standard obstetric ultrasound protocol. Thus, for learners without access to formal sonography programs, the simulator is intended to provide structured training in basic obstetrics ultrasound.