An Interactive Meshless Cutting Model for Nonlinear Viscoelastic Soft Tissue in Surgical Simulators

In this paper, we present a novel interactive cutting simulation model for soft tissue based on the meshless framework. Unlike most existing methods that consider the cutting process of soft tissue in an over simplified manner, the presented model is able to simulate the complete cutting process that includes three stages: deformation before cutting open, cutting open, and deformation after cutting open. To characterize the complicated physical and mechanical properties of soft tissue, both nonlinearity and viscoelasticity were incorporated into the equations governing the motion of soft tissue. A line contact model was used for simulating the cutting process after analyzing the two major types of surgical instruments, i.e., scalpel and electrostick. The cutting speed and angle were taken into account in order to improve haptic rendering. Biomechanical tests and simulation experiments verified the validity of the introduced model. Specifically, the displacement versus cutting force curves can be divided into three segments corresponding to the three stages of the cutting process. The results were also applied in a liver cutting simulating system and satisfactory visual effect and haptic feedback were achieved.