Vamsi Konchada

Laser surgery simulation platform: Toward full-procedure training and rehearsal for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) therapy

Recently, photo-selective vaporization of the prostate (PVP) has been a popular alternative to the standard electrocautery - transurethral resection of prostate (TURP). Here we introduce a new training system for practicing the laser therapy by using a virtual reality (VR) simulator. To interactively and realistically simulate PVP on a virtual organ with an order of a quarter million elements, a few novel and practical solutions have been applied to handle the challenges in modeling tissue ablation, contact/collision and deformation; endoscopic instruments tracking, haptic rendering and a web/database curriculum management module are integrated into the system. Over 40 urologists and surgical experts have been invited nationally and participated in the system verification.

Supporting internal visualization of biomedical datasets via 3D rapid prototypes and sketch-based gestures

In this work, we explore the potential of combining virtual reality (VR) visualizations of data with physical models generated via rapid 3D prototyping to provide a new style of exploratory data visualization. Holding a physical rapid prototype model in ones hand can provide an immediate and more accurate understanding of a complex 3D form than can be provided via a computer display, even a head-tracked VR display. However, physical printouts are static and only show the bounding surface (the outside) of a 3D geometry. When working with many of todays scientific datasets, for example, analyzing results of high-performance simulations of cardiovascular fluid dynamics [Simon et al. 2010], scientists need to understand both a complex bounding surface for the data and multivariate volumetric data contained within it. We present the initial design of a new interface for exploring this type of data. Our goal is to combine the intuitive shape understanding made possible by physical 3D rapid prototypes with complementary VR visualizations of the data inside the printed geometry.

Web-accessible interactive software of 3D anatomy representing pathophysiological conditions to enhance the patient-consent process for procedures

Conveying to a patient the exact physical nature of a disease or procedure can be difficult. By establishing an access website, and using existing 3D viewer software along with our expanding set of anatomical models, we can provide an interface to manipulate realistic, 3D models of common anatomical ailments, chosen from a database frequently updated at the request of the medical community. Physicians will be able to show patients exactly what their condition looks like internally, and explain in better detail how a procedure will be performed.

The Minnesota pelvic trainer: a hybrid VR/physical pelvis for providing virtual mentorship.

Obtaining accurate understanding of three dimensional structures and their relationships is important in learning human anatomy. To leverage the learning advantages of using both physical and virtual models, we built a hybrid platform consisting of virtual and mannequin pelvis, motion tracking interface, anatomy and pathology knowledge base. The virtual mentorship concept is to allow learners to conveniently manipulate and explore the virtual pelvic structures through the mannequin model and VR interface, and practice on anatomy identification tasks and pathology quizzes more intuitively and interactively than in a traditional self-study classroom, and to reduce the demands of access to dissection lab or wet lab.

Phenomenological model of laser-tissue interaction with application to Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) simulation.

Laser-tissue interaction is a multi-physics phenomenon not yet mathematically describable and computationally predictable. It is a challenge to model the laser-tissue interaction for real time laser Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) simulation which requires the laser-tissue interaction model to be computationally efficient and accurate. Under the consideration and enforcement of the thermodynamic first law and treating the laser-tissue interaction as a gray-box, utilizing the sensitivity analysis of some key parameters that will affect the laser intensity on the tissue surface with respect to the tissue vaporization rate, a phenomenological model of laser-tissue interaction is developed. The developed laser-tissue interaction model has been implemented for a laser BPH simulator and achieves real time performance (more than 30 frames per second). The model agrees well with the available experimental data.