Evaluation of Direct Haptic 4D Volume Rendering of Partially Segmented Data for Liver Puncture Simulation

TL;DR

This study evaluates a novel haptic rendering approach for liver puncture simulation using partially segmented data, demonstrating low force errors and high plausibility across numerous test paths.

Contribution

It introduces and quantitatively assesses a new direct needle force volume rendering method for liver puncture simulation using partially segmented data.

Findings

Mean force error of 0.12 N RMS compared to gold-standard models

Only 12% of forces affected by errors along test paths

Haptic rendering plausibility confirmed on over 31,000 test paths

Abstract

This work presents an evaluation study using a force feedback evaluation framework for a novel direct needle force volume rendering concept in the context of liver puncture simulation. PTC/PTCD puncture interventions targeting the bile ducts have been selected to illustrate this concept. The haptic algorithms of the simulator system are based on (1) partially segmented patient image data and (2) a non-linear spring model effective at organ borders. The primary aim is to quantitatively evaluate force errors caused by our patient modeling approach, in comparison to haptic force output obtained from using gold-standard, completely manually-segmented data. The evaluation of the force algorithms compared to a force output from fully manually segmented gold-standard patient models, yields a low mean of 0.12 N root mean squared force error and up to 1.6 N for systematic maximum absolute errors. Force errors were evaluated on 31,222 preplanned test paths from 10 patients. Only twelve percent of the emitted forces along these paths were affected by errors. This is the first study evaluating haptic algorithms with deformable virtual patients in silico. We prove haptic rendering plausibility on a very high number of test paths. Important errors are below just noticeable differences for the hand-arm system.