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Public Lecture

Scientific Computing Applications in Surgical Simulation of Soft Tissues

January 7 - 11, 2008


Organizing Committee | Scientific Overview | Speaker List

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Organizing Committee

Court Cutting (New York University, Plastic Surgery)
Dwight Meglan (SimQuest LLC)
Silvia Salinas-Blemker (University of Virginia, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering)
Joseph Teran (University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Mathematics)

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Scientific Overview

Surgical simulation of soft tissues is an increasingly viable tool for predicting surgical outcomes and in training medics and residents. Simulated procedures include laproscopic surgery, craniofacial reconstruction, z-plasty, breast reduction, gastrointestinal surgery and reconfiguration of musculoskeletal geometry. In these and many other scenarios, a subject specific simulation environment in which procedures can be practiced is of immeasurable value for training as well as for actual research and development of surgical techniques. Several technological and algorithmic problems currently limit the applicability of surgical simulation; the solutions to these problems require collaboration between mathematicians, computer scientists, engineers and clinicians. For example, until recently most simulation techniques for soft tissues were too computationally burdensome to be applicable in a real or interactive time environment. Offline computations have always been of use in helping to determine the results of a procedure, however many algorithms were developed that sacrificed accuracy for speed in an attempt to satisfy interactive frame rates. In the process, many of these algorithms were doomed to produce scientifically unreliable results making them of little use in accurately predicting surgical outcomes. As computer performance improves, computational power is less and less frequently precluding the use of more widely accepted scientific computing algorithms for soft tissues at interactive rates. Also, larger regions of the body can be simulated (e.g. in examining musculoskeletal procedures related to motion). In this short course, we will be investigating the most promising directions for algorithm design, use of architectures, surgical simulation interface design and procedures that lend themselves to simulation by encouraging interdisciplinary cooperation between medicine, engineering, applied math and computer science.

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Invited Speakers

Gregory Carman (University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA))
Court Cutting (New York University)
Suvranu De (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)
Benjamin Fregly (University of Florida)
Eugene Grossi (NYU Medical Center)
Matthias Harders (Eidgenössische TH Zürich-Zentrum)
Walter Johansen (The Corporation for Education Network Initiative in California (CENIC))
Julien Lenoir (Laboratoire d'Informatique Fondamentale de Lille)
Ming Lin (University of North Carolina)
Dwight Meglan (SimQuest LLC)
Sarthak Misra (Johns Hopkins University)
Wendy Murray (Northwestern University)
Aaron Oliker (Bio Digital Systems)
Stanley Osher (University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA))
Mark Ottensmeyer (Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital)
Rick Satava (University of Washington)
Markus Schill (VRmagic GmbH)
Peter Schulam (University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA))
Eftychios Sifakis (University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA))
Thomas Sørensen (Aarhus University)
Joseph Teran (University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA))
Demetri Terzopoulos (University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA))

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Contact Us:

Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM)
Attn: VS2008
460 Portola Plaza
Los Angeles CA 90095-7121
Phone: 310 825-4755
Fax: 310 825-4756
Email:
Website: http://www.ipam.ucla.edu/programs/vs2008/

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