stichting theor, theor foundation

SURGERY IN VIRTUAL REALITY

SURGICAL TRAINING GAME

"An ambitious plan created at the intersection of innovation, science and education".

Cleft lip and palate is one of the more common congenital disorders with a very complex and long follow-up trajectory. From 0/18 years old, the cleft team follows the patient and his/her parents on a physical, emotional and psychological level. Despite the fact that the condition occurs relatively frequently and care in the Netherlands is concentrated in only a few teams, the number of procedures in the Netherlands per team is not high enough to create an adequate training situation for physician assistants in plastic surgeon training.

For the most part, this training situation takes place after the training in a fellow construction or during international "surgical camps". In low-wage countries, cleft lip and palate is much more common with more challenges to provide these patients with good surgical expertise.

This expertise generally comes from surgical teams from first world countries, including the Netherlands.

Project goal:

Developing a validated “surgical training game for (plastic) surgery” with the operative correction of cleft lip and palate as the primary goal. Creating an environment in which the various surgical techniques and surgical procedures can be practiced step by step. When developing this game, both local and international use must be taken into account.

Thanks to the contribution of the innovation fund of the Medical Centre of Leeuwarden (the Netherlands), our team of Grendel Games have started the first phase in the development of the surgical training game.

Started on October 1, 2022

VR surgical game

Through this game, AIOS can receive a much broader training. It provides the opportunity to practice surgical techniques to which the residents normally have little or no access.

Education and science

A game that gives the trainer the opportunity to provide targeted feedback on operation skills.

Home & abroad

Game can be used as a supporting tool for surgical camps in developing countries.

Time-line

Phase 1 of the game started on October 1, 2022. The first prototype is expected to be ready by March 1, 2023. The full development timeline for the game is about 2.5 years.

The development of THEOR - CLEFT

Updated to January 2023

In the past few months, the emphasis was on collecting and supplying material and information such as images of the different cleft lip and palate variants, the anatomy of cleft lip and palate, and the various surgical techniques.

With all the information gathered, our Grendel Games team started building the game.

Shade & ambient occlusion

An important question during this first period was the degree of shadow and light on the face. The images you see on the right have been made to give an impression of how shadow and light behave in a virtual environment.

We have opted for the variant in which shadow and ambient occlusion require the least amount of attention, so the focus stays completely on the operating area. An additional advantage is that this variant can run on the cheaper VR glasses, which making it a perfect fit with our desire to develop a game that's easy accessible in terms of use and costs.