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Purpose: Our aim was to develop practical training for laparoscopic surgery using Thielembalmed cadavers. Furthermore, in order to verbalize experts' motion characteristics and provide objective feedback to trainees, we initiated motion capture analyses of multiple surgical instruments simultaneously during the cadaveric trainings. In the present study, we report our preliminary results., Methods: Participants voluntarily joined the present cadaveric simulation trainings, and performed laparoscopic radical nephrectomy. After the trainings, scores for tissue similarity (face validity) and impression of educational merit (content validity) were collected from participants based on a 5-point Likert scale (tissue similarity: 5: very similar, 3: average, 1: very different; educational merit: 5: very high, 3: average, 1: very low). In addition, after the additional IRB approval, we started motion capture (Mocap) analyses of 6 surgical instruments (scissors, vessel sealing system, grasping forceps, clip applier, right-angled forceps, and suction), using an infrared trinocular camera (120-Hz location record). Mocap-metrics were compared according to the previous surgical experiences (experts: ≧50 laparoscopic surgeries, intermediates: 10-49, novices: 0-9), using the Kruskal-Wallis test., Results: A total of 9 experts, 19 intermediates, and 15 novices participated in the present study. In terms of face validity, the mean scores were higher than 3, other than for the Vena cava(mean score of 2.89). Participants agreed with the training value (usefulness for future skill improvement: mean score of 4.57). In terms of Mocap analysis, faster speed-related metrics (e.g., velocity, the distribution of tip velocity, acceleration, and jerk) in the scissors and vessel sealing system, a shorter path length of grasping forceps, and fewer dimensionless squared jerks, which indicated more purposeful motion of 4 surgical instruments (vessel sealing system, grasping forceps, clip applier and suction), were observed in the more experienced group., Conclusions: The Thiel-embalmed cadaver provides an excellent training opportunity for complex laparoscopic procedures with participants' high level of satisfaction, and may become a promising tool for a better objective understanding of surgical dexterity. In order to enrich formative feedback to trainees, we are now proceeding with Mocap analysis., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This study developed and validated a surgical instrument motion measurement system for skill evaluation during practical laparoscopic surgery training. Owing to the various advantages of laparoscopic surgery including minimal invasiveness, this technique has been widely used. However, expert surgeons have insufficient time for providing training to beginners due to the shortage of surgeons and limited working hours. Skill transfer efficiency has to be improved for which there is an urgent need to develop objective surgical skill evaluation methods. Therefore, a simple motion capture-based surgical instrument motion measurement system that could be easily installed in an operating room for skill assessment during practical surgical training was developed. The tip positions and orientations of the instruments were calculated based on the marker positions attached to the root of the instrument. Because the patterns of these markers are individual, this system can track multiple instruments simultaneously and detect exchanges. However due to the many obstacles in the operating room, the measurement data included noise and outliers. In this study, the effect of this decrease in measurement accuracy on feature calculation was determined. Accuracy verification experiments were conducted during wet-lab training to demonstrate the capability of this system to measure the motion of surgical instruments with practical accuracy. A surgical training experiment on a cadaver was conducted, and the motions of six surgical instruments were measured in 36 cases of laparoscopic radical nephrectomy. Outlier removal and smoothing methods were also developed and applied to remove the noise and outliers in the obtained data. The questionnaire survey conducted during the experiment confirmed that the measurement system did not interfere with the surgical operation. Thus, the proposed system was capable of making reliable measurements with minimal impact on surgery. The system will facilitate surgical education by enabling the evaluation of skill transfer of surgical skills., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Ebina et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Introduction: Surgeons' mental workload during endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) has not been fully evaluated. The assessment was challenging due to the great diversity of each patient's anatomy and the consequence variety of surgical difficulties. In this study, we examined the mental workload of surgeons with various surgical skill levels during ESS under the standardized condition provided by novel-designed 3D sinus models., Materials and Methods: Forty-seven participants performed a high-fidelity ESS simulation with 3D-printed sinus models. Surgeons' mental workload was assessed with the national aeronautics and space administration-task load index (NASA-TLX). Associations between the total and subscales score of NASA-TLX and surgical skill index, including the board certification status, the number of experienced ESS cases, and the objective structured assessment of technical skills (OSATS), were analyzed. In addition, 10 registrars repeated the simulation surgery, and their NASA-TLX score was compared before and after the repetitive training., Results: The total NASA-TLX score was significantly associated with OSATS score ( p  = 0.0001). Primary component analysis classified the surgeons' mental burden into three different categories: (1) the skill-level-dependent factors (temporal demand, effort, and performance), (2) the skill-level-independent factors (mental and physical demand), and (3) frustration. After the repetitive training, the skill-level-dependent factors were alleviated (temporal demand; z  = -2.3664, p  = 0.0091, effort; z  = -2.1704, p  = 0.0346, and performance; z  = -2.5992, p  = 0.0017), the independent factors were increased (mental demand; z  = -2.5992, p  = 0.0023 and physical demand; z  = -2.2509, p  = 0.0213), and frustration did not change ( p  = 0.3625)., Conclusion: Some of the mental workload during ESS is associated with surgical skill level and alleviated with repetitive training. However, other aspects remain a burden or could worsen even when surgeons have gained surgical experience. Routine assessment of registrars' mental burdens would be necessary during surgical training to sustain their mental health., Competing Interests: PW: consultant for Fusetec and receiving royalties from Fusetec. AP: consultant for Fusetec, Medtronic, ENT technologies, Tissium, and Aerin Medical, shareholder of Chitogel, and speaker’s bureau for Sequiris. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Suzuki, Miyaji, Matoba, Abe, Nakamaru, Watanabe, Suzuki, Nakazono, Konno, Hinder, Psaltis, Wormald and Homma.)

The purpose of this study was to characterize the motion features of surgical devices associated with laparoscopic surgical competency and build an automatic skill-credential system in porcine cadaver organ simulation training. Participants performed tissue dissection around the aorta, dividing vascular pedicles after applying Hem-o-lok (tissue dissection task) and parenchymal closure of the kidney (suturing task). Movements of surgical devices were tracked by a motion capture (Mocap) system, and Mocap-metrics were compared according to the level of surgical experience (experts: ≥50 laparoscopic surgeries, intermediates: 10-49, novices: 0-9), using the Kruskal-Wallis test and principal component analysis (PCA). Three machine-learning algorithms: support vector machine (SVM), PCA-SVM, and gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT), were utilized for discrimination of the surgical experience level. The accuracy of each model was evaluated by nested and repeated k-fold cross-validation. A total of 32 experts, 18 intermediates, and 20 novices participated in the present study. PCA revealed that efficiency-related metrics (e.g., path length) significantly contributed to PC 1 in both tasks. Regarding PC 2, speed-related metrics (e.g., velocity, acceleration, jerk) of right-hand devices largely contributed to the tissue dissection task, while those of left-hand devices did in the suturing task. Regarding the three-group discrimination, in the tissue dissection task, the GBDT method was superior to the other methods (median accuracy: 68.6%). In the suturing task, SVM and PCA-SVM methods were superior to the GBDT method (57.4 and 58.4%, respectively). Regarding the two-group discrimination (experts vs. intermediates/novices), the GBDT method resulted in a median accuracy of 72.9% in the tissue dissection task, and, in the suturing task, the PCA-SVM method resulted in a median accuracy of 69.2%. Overall, the mocap-based credential system using machine-learning classifiers provides a correct judgment rate of around 70% (two-group discrimination). Together with motion analysis and wet-lab training, simulation training could be a practical method for objectively assessing the surgical competence of trainees., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: Our aim was to build a skill assessment system, providing objective feedback to trainees based on the motion metrics of laparoscopic surgical instruments., Methods: Participants performed tissue dissection around the aorta (tissue dissection task) and renal parenchymal closure (parenchymal-suturing task), using swine organs in a box trainer under a motion capture (Mocap) system. Two experts assessed the recorded movies, according to the formula of global operative assessment of laparoscopic skills (GOALS: score range, 5-25), and the mean scores were utilized as objective variables in the regression analyses. The correlations between mean GOALS scores and Mocap metrics were evaluated, and potential Mocap metrics with a Spearman's rank correlation coefficient value exceeding 0.4 were selected for each GOALS item estimation. Four regression algorithms, support vector regression (SVR), principal component analysis (PCA)-SVR, ridge regression, and partial least squares regression, were utilized for automatic GOALS estimation. Model validation was conducted by nested and repeated k-fold cross validation, and the mean absolute error (MAE) was calculated to evaluate the accuracy of each regression model., Results: Forty-five urologic, 9 gastroenterological, and 3 gynecologic surgeons, 4 junior residents, and 9 medical students participated in the training. In both tasks, a positive correlation was observed between the speed-related parameters (e.g., velocity, velocity range, acceleration, jerk) and mean GOALS scores, with a negative correlation between the efficiency-related parameters (e.g., task time, path length, number of opening/closing operations) and mean GOALS scores. Among the 4 algorithms, SVR showed the highest accuracy in the tissue dissection task ([Formula: see text]), and PCA-SVR in the parenchymal-suturing task ([Formula: see text]), based on 100 iterations of the validation process of automatic GOALS estimation., Conclusion: We developed a machine learning-based GOALS scoring system in wet lab training, with an error of approximately 1-2 points for the total score, and motion metrics that were explainable to trainees. Our future challenges are the further improvement of onsite GOALS feedback, exploring the educational benefit of our model and building an efficient training program., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: The purpose of this study was to find a utility of a newly developed 3D-printed sinus model and to evaluate the educational benefit of simulation training with the models for functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS)., Material and Methods: Forty-seven otolaryngologists were categorized as experts (board-certified physicians with ≥200 experiences of FESS, n  = 9), intermediates (board-certified physicians with <200 experiences of FESS, n  = 19), and novices (registrars, n  = 19). They performed FESS simulation training on 3D-printed models manufactured from DICOM images of computed tomography (CT) scan of real patients. Their surgical performance was assessed with the objective structured assessment of technical skills (OSATS) score and dissection quality evaluated radiologically with a postdissection CT scan. First we evaluated the face, content, and constructive values. Second we evaluated the educational benefit of the training. Ten novices underwent training (training group) and their outcomes were compared to the remaining novices without training (control group). The training group performed cadaveric FESS surgeries before and after the repetitive training., Results: The feedback from experts revealed high face and content value of the 3D-printed models. Experts, intermediates, and novices demonstrated statistical differences in their OSATS scores (74.7 ± 3.6, 58.3 ± 10.1, and 43.1 ± 11.1, respectively, p  < .001), and dissection quality (81.1 ± 13.1, 93.7 ± 15.1, and 126.4 ± 25.2, respectively, p  < .001). The training group improved their OSATS score (41.1 ± 8.0 to 61.1 ± 6.9, p  < .001) and dissection quality (122.1 ± 22.2 to 90.9 ± 10.3, p  = .013), while the control group not. After training, 80% of novices with no prior FESS experiences completed surgeries on cadaver sinuses., Conclusion: Repeated training using the models revealed an initial learning curve in novices, which was confirmed in cadaveric mock FESS surgeries., Level of Evidence: N/A., Competing Interests: P.J. Wormald: consultant for Fusetec and receiving royalties from Fusetec. A.J. Psaltis: consultant for Fusetec. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2022 The Authors. Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Triological Society.)

Background: Our aim was to characterize the motions of multiple laparoscopic surgical instruments among participants with different levels of surgical experience in a series of wet-lab training drills, in which participants need to perform a range of surgical procedures including grasping tissue, tissue traction and dissection, applying a Hem-o-lok clip, and suturing/knotting, and digitize the level of surgical competency., Methods: Participants performed tissue dissection around the aorta, dividing encountered vessels after applying a Hem-o-lok (Task 1), and renal parenchymal closure (Task 2: suturing, Task 3: suturing and knot-tying), using swine cadaveric organs placed in a box trainer under a motion capture (Mocap) system. Motion-related metrics were compared according to participants' level of surgical experience (experts: 50 ≤ laparoscopic surgeries, intermediates: 10-49, novices: 0-9), using the Kruskal-Wallis test, and significant metrics were subjected to principal component analysis (PCA)., Results: A total of 15 experts, 12 intermediates, and 18 novices participated in the training. In Task 1, a shorter path length and faster velocity/acceleration/jerk were observed using both scissors and a Hem-o-lok applier in the experts, and Hem-o-lok-related metrics markedly contributed to the 1st principal component on PCA analysis, followed by scissors-related metrics. Higher-level skills including a shorter path length and faster velocity were observed in both hands of the experts also in tasks 2 and 3. Sub-analysis showed that, in experts with 100 ≤  cases, scissors moved more frequently in the "close zone (0  ≤ to < 2.0 cm from aorta)" than those with 50-99 cases., Conclusion: Our novel Mocap system recognized significant differences in several metrics in multiple instruments according to the level of surgical experience. "Applying a Hem-o-lok clip on a pedicle" strongly reflected the level of surgical experience, and zone-metrics may be a promising tool to assess surgical expertise. Our next challenge is to give completely objective feedback to trainees on-site in the wet-lab.

Tracheal suctioning is an important procedure to maintain airway patency by removing secretions. Today, suctioning operators include not only medical staff, but also family caregivers. The use of a simulation system has been noted to be the most effective way to learn the tracheal suctioning technique for operators. While the size of the trachea varies across different age groups, the artificial trachea model in the simulation system has only one fixed model. Thus, this study aimed to construct multiple removable trachea models according to different age groups. We enrolled 20 patients who had previously received proton beam therapy in our institution and acquired the treatment planning computed tomography (CT) image data. To construct the artificial trachea model for three age groups (children, adolescents and young adults, and adults), we analyzed the three-dimensional coordinates of the entire trachea, tracheal carina, and the end of the main bronchus. We also analyzed the diameter of the trachea and main bronchus. Finally, we evaluated the accuracy of the model by analyzing the difference between the constructed model and actual measurements. The trachea model was 8 cm long for children and 12 cm for adolescents and young adults, and for adults. The angle between the trachea and bed was about 20 degrees, regardless of age. The mean model accuracy was less than 0.4 cm. We constructed detachable artificial trachea models for three age groups for implementation in the endotracheal suctioning training environment simulator (ESTE-SIM) based on the treatment planning CT image. Our constructed artificial trachea models will be able to provide a simulation environment for various age groups in the ESTE-SIM., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: To provide safe tracheal suctioning, the American Association of Respiratory Care guideline discusses the length of suctioning catheter, but the most effective tracheal suctioning catheter technique is still unknown., Objective: The aim of this study is to compare the amount of simulated secretion produced by five different handlings of a catheter at two different viscosities and in two different models to discover the most effective suctioning maneuver in the various mucus conditions., Design: In vitro experimental design., Methods: The amount of secretion aspirated by our researcher's manipulation of a suctioning catheter was measured. The tip of the catheter was recorded using a high-speed video camera to visualize the secretion motion., Results: The most effective suctioning technique differed depending on the viscosity of the secretion. There were no significant differences between five suctioning methods applied to high-viscosity phlegm in a tracheal membrane model, but the flexion technique was the most efficient for low-viscosity secretion., Conclusions: Our results imply that the flexion technique was reasonably safe and the most effective of these five methods for low-viscosity secretion., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2020.)