Ultrasound training simulator using augmented reality glasses: an accuracy and precision assessment study.

Ultrasound (US) imaging despite being safe, cost-effective, and radiation-free, presents poor quality and artifacts, requiring specific medical training in US probe handling and image evaluation. The use of simulators to train physicians has proven its effectiveness, but most of them require specific facilities and hardware. In the last few years, augmented reality has gained relevance to simulate real scenarios which can avoid large setups and broaden medical training to more physicians. This work proposes a new framework for the training of US images acquisition. It consists of a custom-made application that runs on AR glasses (Microsoft HoloLens 2) and interacts with a US simulator application. The AR glasses track the orientation of a QR code mounted on a US probe, communicating its orientation with the US simulator application. This allows the physician to interact with a US probe seeing in real-time the US image in the physician's field of view. The QR code tracking assessment of the AR glasses was conducted by measuring the orientation accuracy and precision when compared with the measures of an electromagnetic tracking device (i.e., NDI Aurora). The proposed solution presented a good performance, rendering the US image in AR glasses with real-time feedback. Moreover, it can track the QR code on the US probe with an accuracy of 0.755°, and a precision of 0.018°. Overall, the proposed framework presents promising results and the use of AR glasses as a tracking device reached a good performance. Clinical Relevance- Simulation is a relevant tool to train physicians, especially in US imaging. AR glasses can broaden the training to less trained physicians by reducing the need for complex setups. This technology allows the implementation of a more natural user interface, which can be relevant in scenarios where good coordination between the eyes and hands of the physician is necessary (i.e., Biopsies).