New Mass Spring System formulation to model the behavior of soft tissues

Abstract: Computer-based medicine has been largely developed in recent years for helping surgery, diagnosis and treatment. Unfortunately, from a mechanical standpoint, modeling complex materials such as soft tissues is still a challenge requiring accuracy and possibility of user interaction. Among computational models (such as Finite Element Method, or Position Based Dynamics), we chose the Mass-Spring System (MSS) as model. It offers several advantages, like adaptability and fast computation, while allowing topological modifications (like cutting or piercing) without pre-computations. In this paper we present a new MSS formulation for soft tissue simulations. The validation of the mechanical response of the model is based on work of Nicolle et al. which reported the shear behavior of three vital internal organs (kidney, liver and spleen). Our method is based on a topological-physical model called TopoSim which allows to easily implement different physical models and performs fast and accurate modeling of different kinds of tissues. Thanks to this model, we are able to easily adapt the simulation to desired requirements and to perform topological modifications during simulations if necessary.