title: Technical skills measurement based on a cyber-physical system for endovascular surgery simulation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Quantification of medical skills is a challenge, particularly simulator-based training. In the case of endovascular intervention, it is desirable that a simulator accurately recreates the morphology and mechanical characteristics of the vasculature while enabling scoring.
  
  
  METHODS
  For this purpose, we propose a cyber-physical system composed of optical sensors for a catheter's body motion encoding, a magnetic tracker for motion capture of an operator's hands, and opto-mechatronic sensors for measuring the interaction of the catheter tip with the vasculature model wall. Two pilot studies were conducted for measuring technical skills, one for distinguishing novices from experts and the other for measuring unnecessary motion.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The proficiency levels were measurable between expert and novice and also between individual novice users. The results enabled scoring of the user's proficiency level, using sensitivity, reaction time, time to complete a task and respect for tissue integrity as evaluation criteria. Additionally, unnecessary motion was also measurable.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The development of cyber-physical simulators for other domains of medicine depend on the study of photoelastic materials for human tissue modelling, and enables quantitative evaluation of skills using surgical instruments and a realistic representation of human tissue.
authors.affiliation: Department of Micro-nano Systems Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tercero
authors.forename: Hirokatsu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kodama
authors.forename: Chaoyang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Katsutoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ooe
authors.forename: Seiichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: Fumihito
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Arai
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Negoro
authors.forename: Guiryong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Zoran
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Najdovski
mesh_terms: D002404:Catheterization; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003491:Cybernetics; D055119:Elastic Modulus; D057510:Endovascular Procedures; D006801:Humans; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D009038:Motion; D055096:Optical Devices; D010865:Pilot Projects; D014520:Urethane
chemical_list: D014520:Urethane