Hands-On Experience

Florida Polytechnic Researchers Develop Technology to Train Surgeons

- PAUL CATALA

IN THE PAST, doctors and surgeons in training would have to work on a dummy or mannequin or perhaps a donated cadaver to get hands-on training for future surgeries.

When those aspiring surgeons are learning to perform delicate operations in orthopedic surgery such as arthroscopic procedures, using operating tools in small incision openings, there isn’t much leeway for maneuvering and positioning. Even using a small camera to see inside also has constraints.

However, thanks to research on the use of virtual computer-assisted technology, the process of getting experience can be easier and more efficient. Because of that improvement, a group of faculty and student researchers at Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland have been working to make training easier and more efficient through technology. Led by Dr. Doga Demirel, a Florida Poly assistant professor of computer science, the group has been working to update and improve the school’s Fundamentals of Arthroscopy Surgery Training (FAST) Program. They have been developing FAST in a virtual form, called “VFAST.” Demirel, who has been at Florida Poly since August 2019, says the school was in a partnership with Dr. Shahryar Ahmadi, assistant professor of orthopedic surgery and director of the Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Center at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, when the concept for VFAST was developed.

Assisting Demirel and Ahmadi were Dr. Tansel Halic, associate professor and Dr. Sinan Kockara, professor at University of Central Arkansas, Conway, Arkansas.