A Neurosurgical Craniotomy Training System Based on Haptic Virtual Reality Simulation

Traditional neurosurgical training modes face challenges including high costs, limited resources, lengthy learning curves, and difficulties in personalized training. In this article, we developed an immersive neurosurgical craniotomy virtual training system (NeuroSimulator) that integrates haptic feedback, enabling comprehensive surgical skill learning through an operator-control interface. Specifically, we constructed the comprehensive neurosurgical craniotomy surgical procedural (CNCSP) dataset to guide operators in repetitive learning and personalized training of relevant surgical skills. To address surgical site model rendering complexity, we proposed an algorithm that integrates vertex curvature and edge-length cost calculation factors (VC&ECL-QEM), resolving the incompatibility between surgical area image rendering quality and efficiency. For intracranial soft tissue haptic deformation, we developed a hybrid soft tissue haptic deformation (HBD) model that combines mass-spring and volumetric elements, addressing the collapse and distortion issues of traditional models and achieving more realistic soft tissue haptic deformation. Experimental results demonstrate that VC&ECL-QEM can simplify nonsurgical area feature preservation while maintaining surgical site detail features, reflecting the effectiveness of model simplification. The HBD model focuses on improving soft tissue deformation realism and shows high consistency with finite element model deformation effects. A total of 83 participants highly recognized NeuroSimulator’s system performance in terms of operational compliance, rendering real-time performance, and deformation realism, achieving effective improvements in skill proficiency metrics including operation time, ineffective operations, guidance requests, and operation scores. NeuroSimulator provides an innovative, efficient, and practical solution for neurosurgical training and is expected to play an increasingly important role in medical education and clinical skill enhancement.