Online Remeshing for Soft Tissue Simulation in Surgical Training

Abstract

Surgical simulation is a graphical application that requires real-time interaction with deformable 3D objects. A surgical training system must allow the trainee to interact with virtual soft tissue. Therefore, the challenging task is to develop efficient models of living tissues so that the realistic simulation of tool-tissue interaction can be performed in real time. To graphically model and animate the realistic behavior of deformable tissue in surgical simulations, the authors' system adapts tetrahedra resolution by dynamically retessellating the mesh in and around the regions of interest. This technique overcomes limitations of previous methods that made it difficult to modify the mesh's topology online