Eye Movement Differences Between Novices and Expert Surgeons in Laparoscopic Surgery Simulator

Abstract

Laparoscopic surgery is thought to be more difficult to acquire the surgical technique compared with conventional one. Eye movement differences between novices and experts have been shown in the various fields. However, a few papers compared the eye gaze movement behavior of novice and expert surgeons during performance of a laparoscopic surgery task with a simulator. The examinee operated the same case of the laparoscopic cholecystectomy of the simulator, and the eye movement detection method was a pupil corneal reflection method. The expert operator showed economical hand and eye movement compared with novices. Once their act change to a camera operator, their gaze behavior seemed to change to the trainer’s one. The medical students improved to shorten the duration time in procedure in one week of training, however, the gaging pattern did not change. Using this eye tracking system, the new educational system can be established to train the medical student, novice surgeon, and also expert surgeons as trainer.