Development of an Interactive Anatomical Model for Robotic TAPP Inguinal Hernia Repair Surgical Training

Robotic Trans Abdominal Pre-Peritoneal (RTAPP) inguinal hernia repair is a leading technique for repair due to lower incidences of postoperative pain, faster recovery and fewer complications. R-TAPP is often performed using a tele-operated surgical robots and it is a technique that novice surgeons have difficulty learning quickly. A cost-effective physical model with embedded electric circuits and software is created to simulate R-TAPP surgery process on living human tissue and anatomy, allowing for repeated practice and automatic assessment on various portions of the surgery using a daVinci Robot. This model was designed to serve as an assessor of performance and a teacher for the R-TAPP procedure. The feedback given was aural, visual and/or tactile. A case study was conducted to qualitatively evaluate the model. We present the results and suggestions for future work.