The road to surgical simulation and surgical navigation

The recent advantage of the power of graphic workstations has made it possible to handle 3D human structures in an interactive way. Real-time imaging of medical 3D or 4D images can be used not only for diagnosis, but also for various novel medical treatments. By elaborating on the history of the establishment of our laboratory, which focuses on medical virtual reality, we describe our experience of developing surgery simulation and surgery navigation systems according to our research results. In the case of surgical simulation, we mention two kinds of virtual surgery simulators that produce the haptic sensation of surgical maneuvers in the user's fingers. Regarding surgical navigation systems, we explain the necessity of the augmented reality function for the encouragement of the ability of robotic surgery and its trial for clinical case.