Physics-based simulation of vascular trees for surgery simulations

In minimal-invasive surgery there is a trend to interventions with even smaller instruments. These procedures are gentle for patients, but in many cases more complex for the surgeon. The new Single-Port Technique (SPT) enables the surgeon to perform an intervention through one incision point with several instruments. Nowadays, the SPT is applied only in selected surgeries. The application depends on the movement the surgeon can perform with the instrument in the region of interest. This depends on the patients specific anatomy and also on the design of the instruments. Virtual environments can support not only the training, but also the development of instruments adapted to new interventions. To estimate the possible movements and the residual degrees of freedom for the instruments, thus are inserted through one incision point, not only the organs are relevant, but also the vessels connecting them. We present a method for the interactive physic based deformation of vascular systems during interaction. Therefor, the centerline of the vascular system is utilized for the physic based simulation and a surface representation is synchronized. Because the performance is a major issue and depends substantial on the surface resolution, so we also present a approach for the generation of a low resolution surface mesh for vascular systems whose resolution is adaptive to the vessels diameter.