Mexico creates medical training simulator with virtual reality and robotics

A team of Mexican researchers from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) created a medical training simulator with virtual reality and robotics, unique in the world, which trains medical professionals in complex neurosurgical treatments.

“There is no system similar to ours worldwide that combines physical and virtual models of patients. It features three-dimensional computer simulation for training in various surgical procedures,” project leader Miguel Angel Padilla Castañeda told Xinhua.

The system, designed in collaboration with doctors from Mexico’s General Hospital, allows the healthcare professional to experience microsurgery, including full-scale ergonomic proportions of the instruments and a three-dimensional viewer that shows the surgeon a scene similar to what they would see under the electron microscope.

“The simulator is integrated with a couple of small robots that give the tactile feel of the tissue. With these robots, we simulate that we are operating with surgical instruments,” explained Padilla Castañeda.

The surgeries simulated by the instrument are among the most complex and risky to learn since it usually takes the physician years of training, especially if one considers that they must accumulate at least 100 hours to become an expert.

Within the simulation, the physician begins to perform operations, for example, contact with the tissue, its displacement, or the placement of clips, among others.

The development of the simulator began more than six years ago to build a workstation that would create a surgical procedure scenario.

Recently, virtual reality simulation models and mathematical models of tissue biomechanics were incorporated to represent high-risk surgical techniques.

“Opportunities to go learning are scarce and are risky for patients. That is why we created this system with physical and virtual elements, with a representation of the surgical site and two robots with which the virtual elements are manipulated,” he explained.

Worldwide, the specialist said, the third cause of death is medical errors due to different variables that can lead to unavoidable risks, which could be reduced with this technological tool.

“There is never going to be a total substitution of surgery, but what we are trying to do is to get them to perform a real intervention, minimizing the risks, learning more about the anatomy, taking control of the tools, as well as simulating unexpected events for which all the doctors have to be prepared,” he commented.

Another purpose of the development of the simulator is for Mexico to have its own state-of-the-art technology since many hospitals need this type of instrument, but they are too expensive to acquire.

“What we are trying to do is to support the country in having its own technology to help reduce costs and generate conditions for more companies to establish themselves,” said the interviewee, in addition to “generating employment with all the specialized people there are in Mexico”.

It is known that this type of simulator works effectively, as they help experts to supervise residents without risks, not with an actual patient, considered the expert in innovation technologies and robotics.

In addition, Padilla Castañeda called on the public and private sectors to support research and contribute to the country’s development.

With information from Xinhua