Development and initial validation of a virtual reality haptically augmented surgical knot-tying trainer for the Autosuture ENDOSTITCH instrument.

The Autosuture Endostitch device (Covidien, CT) is difficult to learn. In particular, the handle requires the use of a toggle which is unique in this instrument. We have developed a virtual reality trainer for the device that offers the use of the actual instrument handle while creating a visible virtual instrument tip complete with virtual needle and suture on a monitor. This report represents the development and initial validation experiments for the device.