A remote virtual-surgery training and teaching system

This paper describes a remote virtual-surgery training and teaching system using image processing and virtual reality technologies. The intern operator, the instructor, and auditors can stay in different rooms and exchange their information via Internet or Intranet. CT data is pre-download and registered to the space under an LCD monitor at the operator's site such that the operator can use a navigation tool as a virtual operation knife to practice a simulated operation in a virtual reality environment with the instructor's advices. The instructor monitors the view windows from the operator's site and provides suggestions via voice, text and paint functions to the operator's and auditors' sites. The auditors can use voice and text functions to ask the instructor questions. The head-pose technology is applied in the detection of the operator's gaze to adjust the display angle of CT data accordingly so that the 3D image display will be closed to a visual angle in a realistic operational viewpoint. This system has the potential for a further telemedicine application.