Marine Shao has successfully defended her thesis!
We are very happy to announce that ApPEARS ESR Marine Shao has successfully defended her thesis titled ‘Development and Validation of a Hybrid Surgical Simulator for Ultrasound Guided Laparoscopic Common Bile Duct Exploration’ at the University of the West of England on November 27, 2023. Congratulations, dr. Marine Shao!
Abstract of thesis
This thesis investigates using 3D printing for developing a low-cost, quick, and simple fabrication method for the surgical simulation of laparoscopic common bile duct exploration using ultrasound. This is achieved through a human-centred design methodology where each step of the development is guided by interactions or evaluations with the end users. The specifications are defined by using interviews to understand the needs of surgeons in a simulation practice and to characterise the experience of performing surgery, including the embodied knowledge of surgeons when they manipulate soft tissues. Using an action research methodology combining qualitative and quantitative evaluations in an iterative process, commonly used materials in simulation are thoroughly investigated to identify the most suitable synthetic materials for each type of soft tissue. The synthetic materials identified are silicones because of their tactile properties; however, they have two main limitations which are overcome using augmented-reality techniques: the first limitation is the lack of realism, which is compensated by using image processing and style transfer. The second one is that the gel-based synthetic materials which are suitable for ultrasound simulation are not suitable from a tactile perspective and vice versa for the silicone models; this limitation is overcome by using context-aware augmented reality and marker tracking to overlay images recorded on a gel-based model onto the silicone-based models. Through surveys with the end users, the outcomes of this research are evaluated using face, content, and construct validations. Throughout this thesis, the research methods and results are explained and discussed to provide a basis for further research. These findings can be used as a framework for future development of surgical simulators.