Funded by: AiF

Within the framework of this project innovative organ phantoms of the gastrointestinal tract including liver and gallbladder are developed for training and practice of minimally invasive interventions. In cooperation with the Forschungsinstitut für Leder und Kunststoffbahnen and the Institut für Biomedizinische Technik of the Technical University Dresden the project deals with the model development considering material sciences. The ideal combination of collagen based materials is determined to simulate real organ properties. The developed phantoms shall be integrated in the ELITE simulator in order to offer a comprehensive training entity for various applications. Additional to realistic optics (shape, size, color, texture) and haptics (weight, viscosity, rigidity, flexibility) the human physiology is simulated. The material is applicable for suturing, mechanic cutting and treatment with electrocautery interventions. Due to the material properties the gallbladder and the appendix can be dissected in an environment that equates the human. The mixing of the materials and the outer appearance is adjusted that the handling of the instruments, for inspection, preparation and dissection is according to the real surgery situation.