Simulation of preperitoneal mesh in laparoscopic hernia surgery

In a laparoscopic herniorrhaphy, to close the fissure created by the hernia, a preperitoneal mesh is tacked or stapled to the defect on the inside. In a surgical simulator that would train residents on herniorrhaphy, such a mesh must be realistically simulated. Decade old methods of simulating cloth-like objects are based on physically-based modeling. One of the physically-based modeling methods is the Mass-Spring model. It uses the principles of mechanics and different numerical methods to simulate the movement of the cloth. The mesh can be considered a cloth-like object. An animation technique based on the mass-spring model can be formulated as an ordinary differential equation. It is easy to calculate the force on each mass point, and we can animate the movement of mass point by numerically integrating the force.; Here we have proposed and implemented a novel technique for simulating the movement and stapling of the mesh.