Abstract
Purpose :
Membrane peeling during retinal surgery is a delicate step that needs precise completion in order to avoid retinal trauma. The Preceyes Surgical System (PSS; Preceyes B.V., Eindhoven, The Netherlands) is a robotic assistive device that may enhance surgical precision. Our aim was to assess the surgeons’ subjective perception of robotic-assisted epiretinal membrane peeling (RA-MP).
Methods :
RA-MP has been performed in 9 eyes of 9 patients by two experienced vitreoretinal surgeons. In three cases, the intervention was combined with phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation. Immediately surgery, a questionnaire was filled out by the participants, with the following questions: “Use of the robot for peeling is easier compared to manual peeling” (Q1), “Executing peeling with the robot was less stressful compared to manual surgery” (Q2), “During the surgery, I experienced neither hand or arm strain” (Q3) and “Further use of the robot desired” (Q4). The answer options were the following: “strongly disagree”, ”disagree”, ”neutral”, ”agree” and ”strongly agree.” Due to the low number of cases, no statistical analysis was performed, and only raw data are reported.
Results :
The responses for the questions were as follows: Q1 (3/1/4/1/0), Q2 (4/2/2/1/0), Q3 (0/0/1/0/8), and Q4 (0/0/2/1/6) for “strongly disagree”, ”disagree”, ”neutral”, ”agree” and ”strongly agree”, respectively. There was a trend towards increasing ease and less stress with time.
Conclusions :
In our pilot study, the use of RA-MP led neither to hand nor arm strain and was engaging for vitreoretinal surgeons. It was well anticipated, being somewhat more complex than manual membrane peeling and somewhat more stressful, possibly attributable to its learning curve. A larger, randomized, prospective study is warranted to further elaborate on the above aspects.
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.