Real-Time Simulation of Wave Phenomena in Lung Ultrasound Imaging

Abstract

Medical simulations have proven to be highly valuable in the education of healthcare professionals. This significance was particularly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, where simulators provided a safe and effective means of training healthcare practitioners in the principles of lung ultrasonography without exposing them to the risk of infection. This further emphasizes another important advantage of medical simulation in the field of medical education. This paper presents the principles of ultrasound simulation in the context of inflammatory lung conditions. The propagation of sound waves in this environment is discussed, with a specific focus on key diagnostic artifacts in lung imaging. The simulated medium was modeled by assigning appropriate acoustic characteristics to the tissue components present in the simulated study. A simulation engine was developed, taking into consideration the requirements of easy accessibility through a web browser and high-performance simulation through GPU-based computing. The obtained images were compared with real-world examples. An analysis of simulation parameter selection was conducted to achieve real-time simulations while maintaining excellent visual quality. The research findings demonstrate the feasibility of real-time, high-quality visualization in ultrasound simulation, providing valuable insights for the development of educational tools and diagnostic training in the field of medical imaging.