Total Hip Replacement Simulators with Virtual Planning and Physical Replica for Surgical Training and Reharsal

Live Surgery is today an integral component of surgical training programs and innovative surgical technique dissemination. However, the increasing pressure to maintain efficiency and reduce surgical risks has raised the need for structured training sessions through simulation technologies. Simulation has the potential to overcome several limitations of live surgery, allowing the trainee to gain procedural experience in a safe and controlled environment. In Total Hip Replacement intervention surgical simulation can help not only in training but also in planning the intervention. In this work the authors present the HipSim/PSP-HipSim physical patient specific simulators and 3D Hip Plugin virtual environment (e-SPres3D s.r.l), and their preliminary validation both for training purposes and for surgical rehearsal. 13 othopaedic surgeons participated in this study and answered a questionnaire. Results demonstrate the appropriateness of the HipSim/PSP-HipSim simulators as training instrument and the effectiveness of the PSP-HipSim and 3D Hip Plugin for patient specific surgical planning.