Virtual reality glasses and “Eye-hands blind technique” for microsurgical training in Neurosurgery
Choque-Velasquez J1, Colasanti R2, Collan J3, Kinnunen R4, Jahromi BR5, Hernesniemi J5.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
Microsurgical skills and eye-hand coordination need a continuous training to be developed and refined. However, well-equipped microsurgical laboratories are not so widespread as their setting-up is very expensive. Herein, we present a novel microsurgical training system which requires a high-resolution personal computer screen, smartphones and virtual reality glasses.
METHODS:
A smartphone, which is placed on a holder at a height of about 15-20 cm from the surgical target field, is used as the webcam of the computer. A specific software is used to duplicate the video camera image. The video may be transferred from the computer to another smartphone which may be connected to virtual reality glasses.
RESULTS:
Using the above described training model, we progressively performed more and more complex microsurgical exercises. It did not take long to set up our system thus saving time for the training sessions.
CONCLUSION:
Our proposed training model may represent a very affordable and efficient system to improve eye-hand coordination and dexterity in using not only the operating microscope, but also endoscopes and exoscopes.
Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
KEYWORDS:
Exoscope; Eye-hands blind technique; Microsurgery; Microsurgical training; Neuroendoscopy; Smartphone; Virtual reality glasses