Abstract
Purpose::
To design and estimate a performance index for virtual reality phacoemulsification surgery.
Methods::
We have developed a simulator for virtual reality phacoemulsification surgery. The simulator consist of a phacoemulsification handle, a manipulator handle, a regular microscope pedal with X-Y function, focus and zoom, a regular phacoemulsification pedal with irrigation, irrigation-aspiration and irrigation-aspiration-phacoemulsification function. These devices provide input to the computer. The computer provides output to a microscope made of two OLED-displays. The cataract case is characterized by 15 parameters. The surgical procedure is measured by 31 variables. For this study, 6 experienced cataract surgeons and 9 optometry students naive to cataract surgery, respectively, made three repeated surgeries. The sculpting phase and the evacuation phase were measured separately. A variable specific performance index for a specific individual was defined as the naive subject average for that particular variable divided by the average measurement for all experienced surgeons. The overall performance index for a naive subject was defined as the average of all variable specific performance indices for that subject. Only variable specific performance indices less than 1 were considered valid.
Results::
For the sculpting phase, 6 variable specific performance indices were considered valid. For the evacuation phase, 4 variable specific performance indices were considered valid. For both phases, the overall performance indices were skewly distributed towards a high level.
Conclusions::
We have developed a virtual reality phacoemulsification simulator that allows measurement of the performance during the phacoemulsification, specifically for the sculpting and the evacuation phase, respectively, expressed as a performance index.
Clinical Trial::
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Keywords: cataract • refractive surgery • clinical research methodology