Toward Modeling of a Suturing Task

In this paper we present our initial work on simulating suturing using mass-spring models. Various models for simulating a suture were studied, and a simple linear mass-spring model was determined to give good performance. A novel model for pulling a suture through a deformable tissue model is presented. By connecting two separate tissues together by way of the suture, our model can simulate a suturing task. The results are shown using software we developed that runs on a standard PC and models the action of two suturing devices commonly used in minimally invasive Laparoscopic surgery.