An anatomy expert at Iowa State University is developing digital tools that could help surgical students gain nearly lifelike experience with a scalpel without having to cut into cadavers or living subjects.
Diana Peterson, an assistant professor of biomedical sciences in ISU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, has high hopes for a project that could lead to realistic surgical training in a virtual world. Peterson envisions a three-dimensional virtual reality program that simulates both human and animal anatomy and recreates the surgical experience better than almost any existing training method short of the real thing.
“Eventually, we’d like to create a virtual surgery suite that uses virtual reality glasses and haptic gloves,” Peterson said. “You’d basically go into the suite and be the surgeon.”