Wire Simulator

Description

In the last years, interventional cardiology has improved the outcome of certain patients with cardiovascular disease. However, these procedures involve a complex combination of visual and tactile feedback and necessitate intensive training of the interventionalists. By simulation techniques, several training sessions can be performed which allow achieving certain levels of proficiency. Based on these findings, the FDA (United States Food and Drug Administration) decided that simulation training should precede real life procedures in patients with carotid artery disease.

In general the vascular simulators are expensive, complex and difficult to be transported. We propose a complete system to build a wire simulator that can be used as an education tool by physicians in the training of the basics skill. The hardware uses basically the technology of an ordinary mouse and the complexity of the algorithm allows real-time executions. These two characteristics guarantee a very low manufacturing cost, simplicity and easiness of transportation.