Virtual Surgery - Development of The Technology

Development of The Technology

Virtual surgery as a means to simulate procedures and train surgeons grew out of the videogame industry. Videogames for entertainment has been one of the largest industries in the world for some time. However, as early as the 1980s, companies such as Atari began working on ideas of how to use these video environments for training people in different tasks and different professions. Younger trainees in the medical field showed greater eye-hand coordination and quick thinking abilities over those who had never played. Although graphics were extremely limited, Atari began developing several types of simulators related to health care. This type of training met with strong skepticism until studies in the mid-1980s began to show that the concept had promise.

However, the graphic and interactive limitations of videogames hindered their development and usefulness until the 1990s, when companies such as Nintendo and Sony began to produce three dimensional polygon graphics to produce the concept of “virtual reality.” This improved more with the introduction of Wii systems what allowed more realistic manipulation of the virtual reality through motion sensors. Studies at this time showed that the new interaction method improved coordination and space perception. The advances also allowed the technology to move from “game” to “simulator.” DaVinci Surgical System programmed their first simulator for laparoscopic surgery in 2005, and its accuracy and design made it quickly accepted by surgeons. While most of this technology has been used for general surgical training, it has also been used to plan specific surgeries as well. The first virtual surgery (where actual surgery followed the virtual practice) was performed on 17 August 2009 when Dr David Clarke in Halifax, Nova Scotia removed a brain tumour 24 hours after removing a simulated tumour. By 2010, numerous hospitals had some kind of simulation technology available for medical professionals, especially for the training of laparoscopic procedures.

The use of this kind of simulation technology continues to be important, especially with younger generations of medical students. These students have grown up with both entertainment videogames and serious games, those developed for educational purposes, making the use of simulators both more acceptable and effective. These students have been shown to more readily benefit from this kind of training, especially in areas of laproscopic procedures and suturing.