Ultrasound and needle insertion simulators built on real patient-based data

We present here the state of our work on medical simulators. We have developed several patient-based training simulators for ultrasound examination and ultrasound guided needle insertion. These simulators are built upon a method already described in MMVR in 2005 that allows to automatically create new cases from a 3D medical image (CT or MRI) They use indifferently one or two force feedback devices Omni from Sensable. Simulated procedures include hepatic biopsy, radiofrequency thermal ablation, prenatal examination and amniocentesis. An automatic evaluation informs users of the correctness of their gesture. First early validations with young residents have been started.