My research focuses on augmented surgery where it is essential to perform an elastic registration between the preoperative models and the intraoperative images. To this end, a patient-specific biomechanical model must be built to produce real-time finite-element simulations of the deformed organ. This is in practice very difficult to achieve as the problems to be solved are highly complex, in particular when non-linear deformations are considered.
During my PhD, I proposed a method combining finite-element simulations and deep neural networks in order to satisfy the rapidity and accuracy requirements of medical applications. In particular, I built the U-Mesh framework, capable of predicting in real-time the shape of a highly deformable organ like the liver in order to guide surgeons during interventions where following the organ’s deformation is crucial for the surgery to be successful.
I defended my PhD on December 2020 and I am currently working as a post-doctorate researcher at the Centre Hépato-Biliaire of the Paul Brousse hospital in Paris. My goal is to integrate the U-Mesh framework in the operating room during laparotomy.