Interventional simulator system

• US 8,083,524 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2003
• Issued: 12/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mentice AB
• Original Assignee: Mentice AB
• Inventors: Grund-Pedersen, Jan
• Primary Examiner(s): Hu, Kang
• Application Number:
  US10/538,007
• Publication Number:
  US 20060127867A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,946 Days
• Field of Search: 434/262, 434/268, 703/6, 703/9, 703/13
• US Class Current: 434/268
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 23/28 for medicine
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 23/30 Anatomical models G09B23/281 - G09B23/288 take precedence

Abstract

The present invention relates to an interventional procedure simulation system and method, comprising a control unit and an interface unit, said control unit communicating with said interface unit to simulate handling of at least one instrument interfaced by said interface unit. The control unit comprises a database of vessels having hierarchy structure, each vessel having a diameter and a stiffness, and said instrument being a tool expendable in a simulated vessel. When the tool is expanded, a geometry of said vessel changes resulting in a fluid flow change.

Claims

1. A simulation system for training and assessing the performance of an endovascular procedure, the system comprising:

a control unit and an interface unit, said control unit being configured to communicate with said interface unit to simulate simultaneous handling of at least two different instruments interfaced by said interface unit, wherein interface unit is configured to receive the at least two different instruments along two different axes arranged in a parallel manner,

wherein the control unit includes a database of vessels interconnected in a hierarchical structure, each vessel having a diameter and a stiffness,

said instruments being tools expandable in simulated vessels, whereby when said tools are expanded, a simulated geometry of said vessels changes resulting in a simulated fluid flow change in the simulated vessels,

said simulated fluid flow change affecting fluid flow changes in adjacent simulated vessels,

the system being configured to recursively calculate said simulated fluid flow in the simulated vessels and the fluid flow changes in said adjacent simulated vessels, the recursive calculation being a function of at least one parameter, wherein at least one parameter is a result of a real time simulation of a heart function, and

the system being further configured to provide the simulated fluid flow change in real time, and

insertion of said instruments in the simulated vessels affects the recursive calculation of said simulated fluid flow through the simulated vessels.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said instruments are one selected from the group consisting of a balloon, stent and a distal protection tool.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of vessels is realized by a tubular geometry and a specific stiffness.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of vessels are realized by lesions having different stiffness than neighboring vessel parts.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is configured to calculate a flow through the hierarchal structure realized as a vessel-tree as a result of a geometry of the vessel-tree.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least two instruments are real instruments.

6. A method of simulating flow of a body fluid in a simulation system for training and assessing the performance of an endovascular procedure where the simulation system includes a control unit and an interface unit, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a database of vessels having a hierarchical structure in said control unit, wherein

each vessel has a diameter and a stiffness,

said control unit being configured to communicate with said interface unit to simulate simultaneous handling of at least two different instruments interfaced by said interface unit, and

the interface unit is configured to receive the at least two different instruments along two different axes arranged in a parallel manner;

providing said instruments as tools expandable in simulated vessels;

changing a simulated geometry of said simulated vessels resulting in a simulated fluid flow change when said tools is expanded; and

recursively calculating the simulated fluid flow of said simulated vessels having the hierarchical structure until flow and pressure in all branches of said hierarchical structure are solved, the recursive calculation being a function of at least one parameter,

wherein the at least one parameter is a result of a real time simulation of a heart function,

the simulated fluid flow change is provided by the simulation system in real time, and

insertion of said instruments in the simulated vessels affects the recursive calculation of said simulated fluid flow through the simulated vessels.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the flow simulation is modeled as an electrical resistive network.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein potentials correspond to pressure, currents correspond to flow and electrical resistance corresponds to fluid resistance.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein a top of the fluid network is realized in a left ventricle of a heart, and a bottom of the network is in veins connecting to a right atrium of the heart.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein said at least two instruments are real instruments.

12. A simulation system for training and assessing the performance of an endovascular procedure, the system comprising:

a control unit and an interface unit, said control unit being configured to communicate with said interface unit to simulate simultaneous handling of at least two different instruments interfaced by said interface unit, wherein interface unit is configured to receive the at least two different instruments along two different axes arranged in a parallel manner,

wherein the control unit includes a database of simulated vessels arranged in a hierarchical structure,

said at least two instruments are tools expandable in the simulated vessels, whereby when one of said tools is expanded, a simulated geometry of said simulated vessels changes resulting in a simulated fluid flow change in the simulated vessels,

the system is configured to recursively calculate said simulated fluid flow in the simulated vessels and fluid flow changes in adjacent simulated vessels, the recursive calculation being a function of at least one parameter, wherein at least one parameter is a result of a real time simulation of a heart function,

the system is further configured to provide the simulated fluid flow change in real time, and

insertion of said at least two instruments in the simulated vessels affects the recursive calculation of said simulated fluid flow through the simulated vessels.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said at least two instruments are real instruments.