Generation of pathologies for surgical training simulators

Abstract

In the past few years virtual reality based systems have been proposed and realized for many medical interventions. These simulators have the potential to provide training on a wide variety of pathologies. So far, realistic generation of anatomical variance and pathologies have not been treated as a specific issue. We report on a cellular automaton, specially developed to generate macroscopic findings fulfilling the requirements for a sophisticated simulation. The specific pathology investigated are leiomyomas protruding to different extents into the uterine cavity. The automaton presented is part of a virtual reality based hysteroscopy simulator which is currently under development.