Role of Cranial and Spinal Virtual and Augmented Reality Simulation Using Immersive Touch Modules in Neurosurgical Training

Recent studies have shown that mental script based rehearsal and simulation based training does improve the transfer of surgical skills in various medical disciplines. Despite significant advances in technology and intraoperative techniques over the last several decades, surgical skills training on neurosurgical operations still carry significant risk of serious morbidity or mortality. Potentially avoidable technical errors are well recognized as contributing to poor surgical outcome. Surgical education is undergoing overwhelming change, with reduction of working hours and current trends to focus on patient’s safety and linking reimbursement with clinical outcomes there is a need for adjunctive means for neurosurgical training. This has been recent advancement in simulation technology. ImmersiveTouch (IT) is an augmented reality (AR) system, which integrates a haptic device and a high-resolution stereoscopic display. This simulation platform utilizes multiple sensory modalities, recreating many of the environmental cues experienced during an actual procedure. Modules available include ventriculostomy, bone drilling, percutaneous trigeminal rhizotomy, in addition to simulated spinal modules such as pedicle screw placement, vertebroplasty, and lumbar puncture. In this paper, we present our experience with development of such AR neurosurgical modules and the feedback from neurosurgical residents.