ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Digit. Health
Sec. Health Informatics
A professional training simulator for skill acquisition in ultrasound-guided lumbar facet syndrome intervention: design and educational evaluation
Belén Curto Diego 1
Vidal Moreno Rodilla 1
Juan Alberto García Esteban 1
David Sánchez Poveda 2
Pablo Alonso Hernández 2
Felipe Hernández Zaballos 2
1. Department of Computers and Automation, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
2. Department of Anesthesiology, Hospital Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
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Abstract
Ultrasonography (US) plays a central role in modern diagnostic and interventional medicine, particularly in conditions such as facet-origin chronic low back pain, which is highly prevalent in industrialized societies. However, its effective clinical application requires advanced skills in probe manipulation, sonoanatomy interpretation, brain–hand–eye coordination, and safe planning of interventional actions. This work presents the development of a training simulator for ultrasound-guided lumbar facet syndrome treatment, implemented within a modular learning framework designed to support the flexible and efficient creation of procedure-specific simulators. The developed simulator integrates a physical ultrasound probe replica that allows highly realistic manipulation by the student. Probe movements performed by the student along the scan path are continuously tracked and mapped to corresponding ultrasound images and videos, previously acquired by clinical experts from a real subject, and displayed in real time on a desktop visualization system. A validation study was conducted with 18 final-year medical students using an ad hoc questionnaire addressing usability, realism, learning support, and overall training experience. The results demonstrate a high level of student acceptance and a positive perceived impact on the acquisition of skills related to ultrasound-guided exploration and interventional planning.
Summary
Keywords
computer-based US simulators, Facet syndrome treatment, Interventional ultrasonography, life-like HMI devices, medical training
Received
05 December 2025
Accepted
03 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Curto Diego, Moreno Rodilla, García Esteban, Sánchez Poveda, Alonso Hernández and Hernández Zaballos. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Vidal Moreno Rodilla
Disclaimer
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