In the clinical vascular interventional surgery, experienced surgeons usually rely on visual feedback to reason tool-tissue interaction, because haptic forces are easily contaminated by frictions between the catheter and the introducer sheath, which brings difficulty in collision force perceptions. Thus, cognitive skills are highly demanded for novice surgeons to thoroughly interpret the relative positions between tool and tissue in images and make appropriate decisions about further catheter motions in case of collisions. In this paper, an operator’s cognitive skills training system has been introduced, which exploits the tactile sensation to reinforce the visualized spatial positions between catheter tip and vascular wall in the VR simulator. In cooperation with the collision alert module (CAM) in the VR simulator, the newly developed catheter manipulator can provide tactile sensations for novices when catheter tip is threaded beyond safety boundary, so that the VR exhibited tool-tissue interaction can be deliberately intensified. For demonstrating such tactile sensations adequate to strengthen visions, the system model has been established to facilitate the analysis in the perspective of operator’s kinesthetic perception. A series of experiments have been conducted at last and the results reveal that the catheter manipulator can not only realize the accurate catheter motions but also provide the enough tactile sensations for novices. Moreover, statistical data prove that subjects under cognitive trainings have developed the ability to interpret the relative spatial positions between catheter tip and vascular wall. Such findings support that the operator’s cognitive skills can be enhanced by the tactile reinforcement of VR visualized tool-tissue interaction.

中文翻译：

---

用于增强操作者认知技能的触觉辅助 VR 插管训练系统


在临床血管介入手术中，经验丰富的外科医生通常依靠视觉反馈来推理工具与组织的相互作用，因为触觉力很容易被导管和导引鞘之间的摩擦所污染，从而带来碰撞力感知的困难。因此，对于新手外科医生来说，认知技能的要求很高，以彻底解释图像中工具和组织之间的相对位置，并在发生碰撞时就进一步的导管运动做出适当的决定。本文介绍了操作者的认知技能训练系统，该系统利用触觉来强化 VR 模拟器中导管尖端和血管壁之间的可视化空间位置。与VR模拟器中的碰撞警报模块（CAM）配合，新开发的导管机械手可以在导管尖端超出安全边界时为新手提供触觉，从而可以刻意强化VR展示的工具与组织的相互作用。为了展示这种足以增强视觉的触觉，建立了系统模型，以便于从操作者的动觉感知的角度进行分析。最后进行了一系列实验，结果表明该导管机械手不仅能够实现精确的导管运动，而且能够为新手提供足够的触觉。此外，统计数据证明，接受认知训练的受试者已经具备了解释导管尖端和血管壁之间相对空间位置的能力。这些发现表明，通过 VR 可视化工具与组织交互的触觉强化，可以提高操作员的认知技能。