This early stage of the project was mostly dedicated to understanding the procedures and putting things in place.
1 – Observations in the OR
A first very important work was to attend several procedures to observe how surgeons work in current procedures. Thanks to the clinical team at UZ Leuven, we have been subscribed to the mailing list that announces fetal surgeries carried out in Leuven. We attended several TTTS and FETO procedures. The outcome is :
– First evaluation of movements done by the surgeons, and tools used
– Understanding of positions of different people and equipments in the OR. This is particularly interesting for drafting requirements of the stabilizer, since we need to put its base somewhere ine the OR close to the incision site with minimal disturbance to the clinical workflow
2 – Meetings
Regular meetings with Jan Deprest to discuss problems with existing scopes and operation workflow.
Discussions with Nucleus (a company that equips UZ Leuven for digital image sharing and recording in the IR) about video recordings in the OR. Especially of interest is possibility of synchronized recordings from different sources (US, endoscope …). The possibility exists in the mid/long term.
Meeting with the IT department of UZ Leuven about installation of the Nucleus system in the fetal surgery OR
3 – Virtual reality environment
First draft of a concept of virtual reality simulator for assessing performance in a simulated operation in the lab. The scope is inserted in a physical mockup that mimicks the body wall. Its movements are tracked using an electromagnetic (EM) tracker and used for simulating the endoscopic view on a screen. The simulation environment uses VTK to render a mesh of a placenta, and simulate light conditions.
4 – EM Tracking
The tracking of the scope used in the VR simulator can also be used to track movements in the OR and study the gestures of the surgeon. While Emmanuel Vander Poorten has been working on the design of a connector piece for attaching an EM sensor to it, I have been studying the sterilizability of the connector and of the sensors