ABSTRACT
Indisputably the haptic sense plays a paramount role in the medical profession. Be it the simple checking of a pulse, the guidance of a biopsy needle during a lumbar puncture, the palpation of soft tissue for cancer screening, or the detection of pulsating arteries during open surgery, medical practitioners are often required to “see” with their hands. Therefore, it is not surprising that the usage of computer haptics in medicine has been suggested and explored in the past for almost all stages of a patient’s treatment process, ranging from the initial diagnostic steps to the concluding rehabilitation phase. A number of possibilities to categorize the various approaches exist, a few of which are briefly presented here.
