Interactive control of flexible guidewires using hand model in a VR-based vascular interventional surgery simulation system.

Abstract

Interactions in traditional virtual surgery simulation systems primarily involve rigid instruments and hands, with limited attention to interactions between hands and flexible instruments. This often results in limited realism in vascular interventional surgery simulation. To improve upon this limitation, this study investigates the construction of a virtual hand model and virtual hand-guidewire interaction within a virtual vascular interventional surgery simulation system. The aim is to improve the realism of virtual hand-guidewire interaction and the fidelity of vascular interventional surgery simulation. Based on the principle of position-based dynamics, combined with distance and volume constraints, real-time deformation simulation of the soft tissue on the finger pads under external forces is achieved. A hierarchical collision detection and filtering mechanism is adopted to effectively manage the interactions among the hand model, adhesion particles and guidewires, which optimizes the simulated realism and real-time performance of the interaction between hands and guidewires. The proposed hand model with deformable finger pads and hierarchical collision filtering enables stable, realistic, and real‑time interactive control of flexible guidewires. The guidewire tip traction and steering mechanism supports stable navigation through highly curved vascular structures including the aortic arch, without vessel penetration. System performance tests show an average frame response time of 12.1 ms, well below the 17 ms threshold for smooth VR interaction. User evaluation using the System Usability Scale (SUS) yields an average score of 85.36, indicating good preliminary usability and user acceptance. In this study, an interaction framework for VR vascular interventional procedures was established to realize real-time interaction simulation between a virtual hand and a flexible guidewire. The proposed method improves the realism and naturalness of the operation process from the perspective of simulated surgical navigation, and demonstrates a good user experience in preliminary usability evaluation, which can be used as a technically feasible and initially usable virtual simulation platform.