Exploring the use of virtual reality in surgical education

Georgios Ntakakis; Christina Plomariti; Christos Frantzidis; Panagiotis E Antoniou; Panagiotis D Bamidis; Georgios Tsoulfas

doi:10.5500/wjt.v13.i2.36

Exploring the use of virtual reality in surgical education

World J Transplant. 2023 Feb 18;13(2):36-43. doi: 10.5500/wjt.v13.i2.36.

Authors

Georgios Ntakakis¹, Christina Plomariti², Christos Frantzidis³, Panagiotis E Antoniou², Panagiotis D Bamidis², Georgios Tsoulfas⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece. gntakakis@outlook.com.
² Department of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece.
³ School of Computer Science, University of Lincoln, Lincoln LN6 7TS, United Kingdom.
⁴ Department of Surgery, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece.

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) technologies have rapidly developed in the past few years. The most common application of the technology, apart from gaming, is for educational purposes. In the field of healthcare, VR technologies have been applied in several areas. Among them is surgical education. With the use of VR, surgical pathways along with the training of surgical skills can be explored safely, in a cost-effective manner. The aim of this mini-review was to explore the use of VR in surgical education and in the 3D reconstruction of internal organs and viable surgical pathways. Finally, based on the outcomes of the included studies, an ecosystem for the implementation of surgical training was proposed.

Keywords: Abdominal surgery; Simulation; Surgical education; Virtual reality.

Publication types

Review