OpenSurgiSim

Team Lead: Vikas Karade, co-founder and CEO, AlgoSurg Technologies

Lead Institution: AlgoSurg

Team Countries: India

OpenSurgiSim is a surgical training module for orthopaedic surgeons to learn accurate correction of bone deformities.

The process of this collaboration has brought together experts in clinical care and engineering, furthering the idea, according to Mr. Karade. 

The OpenSurgiSim team, based in India, is developing a module to train orthopedic surgeons how to perform complex bone deformity corrections. The low-cost and reproducible module aims to increase the number of orthopaedic surgeons who can proficiently perform these surgeries in low and middle income countries, where there is limited access to this expertise. Thus, more patients will have access to experts in their own communities. 

“Complex bone deformity correction requires special skills, such as assessing the deformity in 3D,” says team lead Dr. Vikas Karade. In addition to the assessment, surgeons leverage their specialized geometric and clinical knowledge to plan the surgery using the patient’s X-ray images. This is followed by interventions that demand accuracy. This can range from possible resectioning of the bone, repositioning the bone fragments, and then accurately fixing them with appropriate tools, such as plates, screws or other fixators. 

Patients in low and middle income countries can face difficulty in accessing skilled surgeons who can perform these complex procedures. Patients may undergo surgery by surgeons who are not properly trained. As a result, they may need revision surgery or face a lifetime disability.

Currently, surgeons who want to learn these surgical skills must train on real patients under the supervision of highly skilled orthopaedic surgeons. 

“Because there are few expert surgeons available to train, not many surgeons learn these complex bone deformity correction skills,” says Dr Karade. “We see patients travel far for these specialized surgeries, sometimes even leaving their own country to find an expert surgeon.”

OpenSurgiSim will be a cloud-based software consisting of three parts: cognitive training, psycho-motor skills training, and self-assessment. The cognitive training will include concise reading material based on principles of deformity correction, followed by a specialized surgery-planning module in the software, so that surgeons can learn how to plan their surgical technique. 

For the psychomotor skills, trainees will be able to download 3D files of a smartly designed 3D printable modular-kit that can be assembled to simulate a variety of bone deformities. Surgeons will 3D print the modular kit, assemble the physical module parts and use a webcam-based augmented reality system (part of the cloud software itself) to practice psycho-motor skills. 

The same system will provide feedback and assessment on the results of the deformity correction. This way OpenSurgiSim will be a personal expert trainer for an orthopedic surgeon trainee.

“Our hope is to train any orthopaedic surgeon in the world at low cost, using a simple webcam, 3D printed modular parts, and freely available software,” says Dr Karade.

See a video the team produced that explains more about the module.