Ex vivo calf brain platform measures forces in simulated neurosurgery
Novel Ex-vivo Calf Brain Model with Integrated Sub-Skull Force Sensors to Access Simulated Neurosurgical Procedures
Robotics
Summary
Surgical procedures on the brain require very delicate handling of tissues, but how much force surgeons apply during these operations is not well measured. The authors created a setup using real calf brains inside a 3D-printed human skull, equipped with sensitive sensors to measure forces when surgical tools touch the brain tissue. Their system can accurately detect very small forces without being affected by surgical drapes or long testing times. This tool can help train surgeons by providing detailed feedback on how they handle brain tissue during practice procedures.
What this means in practice
- •For surgical trainers: Assess surgeon skills objectively by measuring tool forces during neurosurgery simulations using realistic brain tissue and skull models.
- •For biomedical device developers: Develop and test surgical instruments with integrated force feedback in conditions that closely mimic real brain surgery.
Authors
Hamad Binhammad, Matheus Ballestero, Mohammed Babgi, Seana Shaka, Nima Hemati, Rothaina Saeedi, Aiden Mazidi, Bianca Giglio, Rukun Dou, Houssem-Eddine Gueziri, Amir Hooshiar, Rolando F. Del Maestro
Abstract
Surgical tissue manipulation demands precision; however, tool-tissue manipulation force magnitudes under realistic conditions are rarely quantified. To address this gap, we proposed and validated a portable ex-vivo force-sensing platform that measures tool-tissue interaction forces across the skull-brain interface during simulated neurosurgery. The system involves fresh calf brain tissue, used as a biological surrogate for brain parenchyma, placed in a 3D-printed human skull model equipped with a 6 degree-of-freedom force/torque sensor and a real-time data acquisition system. Five validation protocols assessed the accuracy and dynamic fidelity of the platform against ground-truth measurement, static accuracy and linearity using calibrated weights (0.5-50 g), minimum detectable force, spatial consistency across different anatomical regions, effect of surgical draping, and long-duration stability. Across protocols, measured forces showed excellent agreement with reference loads (correlation R = 0.9997), with RMSE < 0.005 N and mean relative error under 2%. The platform reliably detected low-magnitude forces down to 1 g (9.8 mN), while surgical drapes introduced no meaningful signal distortion and prolonged recordings exhibited minimal drift. Overall, the proposed framework provides objective, high-fidelity force quantification for skill training and performance assessment using fresh calf brain tissue and may serve as a foundation for force-based evaluation across other surgical procedures. Future work will integrate clinically used surgical instruments to increase procedural realism and will progress toward clinical trials to evaluate usability, educational impact, and translational relevance in practice-adjacent settings.