Abstract
Purpose: :
To compare the performance of a skilled surgeon versus that of students with some knowledge on ophthalmology but naive to surgery.
Methods: :
One skilled surgeon and four optometry students performed virtual cataract surgery with the simulator developed by us after primary instruction. All subjects operated on a standard case. During the procedure, the variables; phaco procedure time consumption, phaco energy used, foot pedal focusing, foot pedal x–y adjustment, phaocemulsification tip path, improper phaco, ocular damage, manipulator path, improper manipulator handling, bubble operation field occlusion and zonular distension were measured.
Results: :
The skilled surgeon performed better in all variables but two. The skilled surgeon had more out of field time in foot pedal x–y adjustment. This may indicate that the skilled surgeon is less sensitive to out of field position of the operating field. Further the skilled surgeon had more phacoemulsification corneal hit time.
Conclusions: :
The fact that the skilled surgeon performed better in almost all measured variables indicate that the simulator is a good mirror of reality.
Keywords: cataract • computational modeling • clinical research methodology