  Performing minimal-invasive surgical punctures require guiding a needle
toward an intracorporeal clinically-defined target. As this technique does not
involve cutting the body open, a visualization system is employed to provide
the surgeon with indirect visual spatial information about the intracorporeal
positions of the tool. One may consider that such systems reduce the ergonomics
of the situation as they generate a decorrelation between the actual movement
of the needle and the displayed information about this movement. The present
study aims at assessing the guidance of an intracorporeal puncture under a
lingual electrotactile sensory substitution device - the Tongue Display Unit
(TDU) - with respect to the performance evidenced under a computer-rendered
visualization system. The TDU device provides information about the deviation
of the needle movement with regard to a pre-planned "optimal" trajectory.
Experimental results show that - (1) the stimulations furnished by the TDU are
efficient enough to guide accurately one's puncture, - and (2) that previous
training using the visualization system does not improve performances obtained
under subsequent TDU guidance. Finally, results are discussed in terms of
efficiency and usability of the TDU in the context of guiding
minimally-invasive surgical gesture.
