Variational methods for modeling and simulation of tool-tissue interaction

Abstract

Virtual reality based surgical simulators present a safe and effective way for surgical training and robot assisted surgeries. Realistic modeling of tool-tissue interaction plays a vital role in the development of high-fidelity medical simulators and surgical planners. Investigations of the mechanical properties of soft tissue have been performed using variational based methods and are validated by experiments. Nonlinear viscoelastic property is an important attribute of biological soft tissue that should be considered for tissue deformation simulation and haptic rendering. A probabilistic approach is proposed to model the variations of human arterial tissue properties. Mechanical properties of gallbladder tissue are investigated, modeled and simulated with haptic feedback. Computational modeling of the degradation process of biodegradable materials in vivo is carried out using an energy minimization approach. This dissertation presents an advanced study on realistic simulation of mechanical behaviors of soft biological tissues.