1Department of Neurosurgery, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin.
2Cluster of Excellence: "Matters of Activity. Image Space Material," Humboldt University, Berlin.
Neurosurg Focus. 2022 Aug;53(2):E4. doi: 10.3171/2022.5.FOCUS2261.
Training of residents is an essential but time-consuming and costly task in the surgical disciplines. During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, surgical education became even more challenging because of the reduced caseload due to the increased shift to corona care. In this context, augmented 360° 3D virtual reality (VR) videos of surgical procedures enable effective off-site training through virtual participation in the surgery. The goal of this study was to establish and evaluate 360° 3D VR operative videos for neurosurgical training.
Using a 360° camera, the authors recorded three standard neurosurgical procedures: a lumbar discectomy, brain metastasis resection, and clipping of an aneurysm. Combined with the stereoscopic view of the surgical microscope, 7- to 10-minute 360° 3D VR videos augmented with annotations, overlays, and commentary were created. These videos were then presented to the neurosurgical residents at the authors' institution using a head-mounted display. Before viewing the videos, the residents were asked to fill out a questionnaire indicating their VR experience and self-assessment of surgical skills regarding the specific procedure. After watching the videos, the residents completed another questionnaire to evaluate their quality and usefulness. The parameters were scaled with a 5-point Likert scale.
Twenty-two residents participated in this study. The mean years of experience of the participants in neurosurgery was 3.2 years, ranging from the 1st through the 7th year of training. Most participants (86.4%) had no or less than 15 minutes of VR experience. The overall quality of the videos was rated good to very good. Immersion, the feeling of being in the operating room, was high, and almost all participants (91%) stated that 360° VR videos provide a useful addition to the neurosurgical training. VR sickness was negligible in the cohort.
In this study, the authors demonstrated the feasibility and high acceptance of augmented 360° 3D VR videos in neurosurgical training. Augmentation of 360° videos with complementary and interactive content has the potential to effectively support trainees in acquiring conceptual knowledge. Further studies are necessary to investigate the effectiveness of their use in improving surgical skills.
住院医师培训是外科领域中必不可少但既耗时又昂贵的任务。在 2019 年冠状病毒病大流行期间，由于手术量减少，转而更多地进行新冠护理，外科教育变得更加具有挑战性。在这种情况下，通过虚拟参与手术，增强型 360°3D 虚拟现实 (VR) 手术视频可实现有效的异地培训。本研究的目的是建立和评估用于神经外科培训的 360°3D VR 手术视频。
作者使用 360°摄像机记录了三种标准的神经外科手术：腰椎间盘切除术、脑转移瘤切除术和动脉瘤夹闭术。结合手术显微镜的立体视图，创建了带有注释、叠加和评论的 7-10 分钟 360°3D VR 视频。然后，使用头戴式显示器向作者所在机构的神经外科住院医师展示这些视频。在观看视频之前，住院医师填写一份问卷，表明他们的 VR 体验以及对特定手术的手术技能的自我评估。观看视频后，住院医师填写另一份问卷以评估其质量和有用性。参数采用 5 分李克特量表进行评估。
22 名住院医师参加了这项研究。参与者神经外科经验的平均年限为 3.2 年，从培训的第 1 年到第 7 年不等。大多数参与者（86.4%）的 VR 体验不足 15 分钟。视频的整体质量被评为良好到非常好。沉浸感，即置身于手术室的感觉非常高，几乎所有参与者（91%）都表示 360°VR 视频是神经外科培训的有用补充。该队列中 VR 病的发生率可忽略不计。
在这项研究中，作者展示了增强型 360°3D VR 视频在神经外科培训中的可行性和高接受度。通过互补和互动内容增强 360°视频具有有效支持学员获得概念知识的潜力。需要进一步的研究来调查其在提高手术技能方面的有效性。
