Assessing colonoscopic inspection skill using a virtual withdrawal simulation: a preliminary validation of performance metrics.

Background: The effectiveness of colonoscopy for diagnosing and preventing colon cancer is largely dependent on the ability of endoscopists to fully inspect the colonic mucosa, which they achieve primarily through skilled manipulation of the colonoscope during withdrawal. Performance assessment during live procedures is problematic. However, a virtual withdrawal simulation can help identify and parameterise actions linked to successful inspection, and offer standardised assessments for trainees.

Automated visibility map of the internal colon surface from colonoscopy video.

Purpose: Optical colonoscopy is a prominent procedure by which clinicians examine the surface of the colon for cancerous polyps using a flexible colonoscope. One of the main concerns regarding the quality of the colonoscopy is to ensure that the whole colonic surface has been inspected for abnormalities. In this paper, we aim at estimating areas that have not been covered thoroughly by providing a map from the internal colon surface.

Progress in virtual reality simulators for surgical training and certification.

There is increasing evidence that educating trainee surgeons by simulation is preferable to traditional operating-room training methods with actual patients. Apart from reducing costs and risks to patients, training by simulation can provide some unique benefits, such as greater control over the training procedure and more easily defined metrics for assessing proficiency. Virtual reality (VR) simulators are now playing an increasing role in surgical training.

The role of quadratus lumborum asymmetry in the occurrence of lesions in the lumbar vertebrae of cricket fast bowlers.

In cricket fast bowlers an increased incidence of stress fractures or lesions in the L4 pars interarticularis is observed, which shows a strong statistical correlation with the presence of hypertrophy in the contralateral Quadratus Lumborum (QL) muscle. This study aims to find a physical explanation for this correlation. A mathematical model was used to estimate the forces and moments on the L3 and L4 vertebrae in six postures attained during fast bowling.