How to advance surgeon training for minimal-invasive image-guided spine surgery?
The Europaeisches Zentrum für Dispersionstechnik (EZD) and the company Medability collaborated to create a synthetic tissue that mimics human soft tissue and muscle.
The composition provides a close approximation in look, feel and behavior, making it possible to test and train medical devices with more realistic results than ever before. If seeing is believing, watch the video here.
“Our expertise in material formulation helped create this material for realistic surgical simulation training,” says Andreas Schneider, an EZD Senior Scientist.
“Working with EZD played a crucial role, helping trainees learn Minimally Invasive Spine Surgical (MISS) techniques within a short period of time,” says Philipp Stefan, CTO of Medability.
EZD is part of the German Plastics Center (SKZ), where a new model factory connects the industrial and digital worlds to enable innovations in production. SKZ opened in 1961, training annually more than 10,000 skilled workers and engineers in the plastics industry.
Founded in 2012, Medability is dedicated to improving the quality and safety of minimally invasive (MIS) spine surgery, including the SimBone™ simulation platform.