Interactive haptic modeling of colon and colonoscope.

Abstract

This paper presents physics-based modeling for colonoscopy training simulator. The colon is modeled as a chain of beam along the medial axis for global bending motions. The Timoshenkos beam theory is applied to the centerline of colon extracted from a medical image. The stiffness matrix of colon is formulated using the finite element method. The colonoscope model consists of rigid elements connected with torsional spring and damper. This modeling allows global bending motions to be simulated in real time.