Accelerating Surgical Simulation Development via OpenSurgSim: Burr Hole Trainer.

The first complete simulation based on OpenSurgSim (OSS) is used as a case study for analyzing how the toolkit can accelerate the development of surgical simulations. The Burr Hole Trainer (BHT) is designed to train non-neurosurgeons to drill holes in the skull to relieve intracranial pressure, and the majority of its simulation functionality is provided by OSS. Based on code size, using OSS cut the development time in half, reduced the necessary size of the development team by two-thirds, and saved millions of US dollars.

Open Surgical Simulation (OSS) - A Community Resource.

The OpenSurgSim system (www.opensurgsim.org) has been in development for the past 18 months.

Interactive contacts resolution using smooth surface representation.

Accurately describing interactions between medical devices and anatomical structures, or between anatomical structures themselves, is an essential step towards the adoption of computer-based medical simulation as an alternative to traditional training methods. However, while substantial work has been done in the area of real-time soft tissue modeling, little has been done to study the problem of contacts occurring during tissue manipulation. In this paper we introduce a new method for correctly handling complex contacts between various combination of rigid and deformable objects.

Tumor-associated leukemia inhibitory factor and IL-6 skew monocyte differentiation into tumor-associated macrophage-like cells.

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), the most abundant immunosuppressive cells in the tumor microenvironment, originate from blood monocytes and exhibit an IL-10(high)IL-12(low) M2 profile. The factors involved in TAM generation remain unidentified. We identify here leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and IL-6 as tumor microenvironmental factors that can promote TAM generation.

Physics-based models for catheter, guidewire and stent simulation.

For over 20 years, interventional methods have improved the outcomes of patients with cardiovascular disease or stroke. However, these procedures require an intricate combination of visual and tactile feedback and extensive training periods. An essential part of this training relates to the manipulation of diagnostic and therapeutic devices such as catheters, guidewires, or stents.