Search

Patient-specific rehearsal (PsR) is a recent technology within virtual reality (VR) simulation that lets the operators train on patient-specific data in a simulated environment prior to the procedure. Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) is a complex procedure where operative metrics and technical success might improve after PsR. We compared technical success and operative metrics (endovascular procedure time, contralateral gate cannulation time, fluoroscopy time, total radiation dose, number of angiograms and contrast medium use) between 30 patients, where the operators performed PsR (the PsR group), and 30 patients without PsR (the control group). The endovascular procedure time was significantly shorter in the PsR group than in the control group (median 44 versus 55 min, p =.017). The other operative metrics were similar. Technical success rates were higher in the PsR group, 96.7% primary and assisted primary outcome versus 90.0% in the control group. The differences were not significant (p =.076). PsR before EVAR reduced endovascular procedure time, and our results indicate that it might improve technical success, but further studies are needed to confirm those results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Box trainers with motion analysis are important add-ons to surgical training and skills assessment outside the operating room, given that they exhibit construct validity. Material and methods: Four different tasks were tested for construct validity on a new laparoscopic box trainer with integrated motion analysis. Tracking data from the simulator were analyzed for eighteen parameters per task using an in-house software comparing participants with three different experience levels. Results: In total, ten novices, 22 intermediates and 16 experts enrolled. No or limited significant differences were found for the peg picker and rope race. For the precision cutting task 12 parameters showed significant difference between novices and intermediates, 14 between novices and experts and one between intermediates and experts. For the suture task the corresponding results were one, 15 and six. Conclusions: The precision cutting and suture task both showed construct validity for many of the parameters. While the precision cutting task distinguished best between novices and the other two groups, the suture task distinguished best between experts and the other two groups. These results show the importance of the timing of an assessment task, and that an assessment task might have limited value if experience levels are not considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]