Development of a Suture Training Simulator with Quantitative Evaluation Function

Surgeons should perform several tasks during medical operations (i.e. suture, ligature, etc.). In particular, the suture and ligature require high level skills in order not to damage skin or tissues. Therefore, many trainees practice using surgical training models. However, these training models focus only on helping trainee to learn a surgical procedure by simulation and imitation, and do not provide quantitative data for the evaluation of the task. For that reason, this paper describes the development of new Surgical Skills Training Simulator and Evaluation System. In order to provide quantitative data for the evaluation of suture and ligature skills, sensors are required to be embedded in the training simulator. This system used photo interrupter embedded under the skin dummy in order to detect the 3 dimensional movement of the skin dummy during suture and ligature. By recognizing the movement behaviour of skin dummy, we can evaluate one’s surgery skills for suture and ligature especially during training process. In this paper, we also describe the experiments we have done in order to recognize the movement behaviour of skin dummy. The parameters for the evaluation system are: task completion time, needle insertion’s angle and speed, shear force during suture, task completion time, shear force, and applied force during ligature. From the experimental data of the parameters described above, an evaluation function was proposed for suture and ligature tasks. We confirmed the effectiveness of the evaluation function by using statistical analysis where we found that the evaluation function could detect differences between surgeons and medical students (p<0.05), and furthermore, differences between surgeons and unskilled persons (p<0.05). Index Terms Sensor, Surgical Skill, Evaluation, Training