Acquiring laparoscopic manipulative skills: A virtual tissue dissection training module

Virtual environments for training manipulative skills in laparoscopic surgery are now well established as research areas. Tissue dissection however has not yet been adequately addressed. We have developed a virtual training module in which the task is to dissect a 3D tissue model using a simulated L-hook. Three metrics have been designed to assess performance. 1) Total deviation of actual cut path from the drawn path. 2) Total contact time between the instrument and tissue. 3) Contact discontinuity. The objective of the research was to design a basic tissue dissection module to train, in part, laparoscopic manipulative skills.