"I will do laparoscopy somewhere else" : Total, highly immersive virtual reality without side effects?

Abstract

For virtual reality laparosopic simulation we developed anew, highly immersive simulation mode. The goal of the current pilot study was to investigate if kinetosis or other negative vegetative side effects can be caused by a total virtual training set-up (TVRL). In this study 20 participants with varying degrees of expertise in laparoscopy performed 3 tasks (i.e. ring exchange, fine dissection and cholecystectomy) in regular (VRL) and immersive mode (TVRL) with a head-mounted display (HMD) on alaparoscopic simulator. Aside from performance scores, the heart rate was recorded and the occurrence of vertigo was investigated. Surgical performance was independent of the VR mode (VRL or TVRL). Participants' heart rate was higher in TVRL without reaching statistical significance. Kinetosis occurred in two participants (10%) with ahistory of motion sickness. Laparoscopic training can take place in atotal virtual environment with limited nagative vegetative side effects. Special attention should be paid to participants with ahistory of motion sickness. The development of TVRL enables new perspectives for surgical training.