Development and characterization of a synthetic bone analogue for surgical training

Abstract

Spinal surgeries often require screws to be placed through small cylindrical pedicles in the vertebra, beside the spinal cord, to anchor rods for spinal fusion and correction. More experienced surgeons have fewer malplaced pedicle screws. In the current training paradigm, residents primarily learn the procedure on live patients. The objective of this research was to create a synthetic bone analogue with realistic tactile feedback to improve resident training. Forces encountered during pedicle cannulation and breaching were measured ex vivo. These were used to create a cost-effective bone model that replicated the forces as well as specific heterogeneous features of bone, distinct from current bone models. Of six residents who used the new bone analogues, five had fewer breaches in the simulated environment after practice than before.