The Hemispherectomy Simulator
(Patent Pending)
Professor of Chemistry
10.1 million patients globally with epilepsy are potential surgical candidates.
This number that is estimated to increase by 1.4 million annually. (Vaughan et al. 2019) Epilepsy surgery requires mastery of an eloquent set of skills in a safe, non-patient threatening, environment to avoid technical errors that could lead to devastating consequences.(Kirkman et al. 2014) Simulation in surgical education has been endorsed as a valid supplement to surgical training because it potentially shortens technical learning curves. (Milburn et al. 2012).
What is the hemispherectomy simulator?
CIGITI lab's innovative new technology: the hemispherectomy simulator (ths), is a high fidelity epilepsy surgery training platform designed to provide a realistic, hands-on pre-operative surgical simulation experience. Discover it's utility as a supplement to neurosurgical apprenticeship for patient-safe practice runs of temporal lobectomy, corpus callosotomy, and variations of hemispherectomy brain operations.
Publications
Thiong'o GM, Bernstein M, Drake JM. 3D printing in neurosurgery education: a review. 3D Print Med. 2021 Mar 23;7(1):9.
Thiong'o GM, Mayer H, Looi T, Kulkarni AV, Drake JM. Associating Surgeon Feedback With Material Physical Properties in the Development Process of a Resective Epilepsy Surgery Simulator. Oper Neurosurg (Hagerstown). 2022 Apr 1;22(4):244-248.
Thiong'o GM, Looi T, Drake JM. Application of 3D Printing Support Material for Neurosurgical Simulation. Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2021 Nov;2021:4169-4173.
Thiong’o GM, Looi T, Rutka JT, Kulkarni AV, Drake JM. Design and validation of a hemispherectomy simulator for neurosurgical education. Journal of Neurosurgery. 2022 Jun 17;1(aop):1-8.
Thiong’o GM, Kulkarni A, Drake JM. Moderate procedural confidence improvement following hands-on practice using the hemispherectomy simulator. Child's Nervous System. 2022 Jul 29:1-