Assessing Virtual Reality Environment for Remote Telementoring during Open Surgeries

In a telementoring setup for open surgeries, the motion of virtual surgical instruments is superimposed onto the operative field. This assists a mentor to effectively convey to the mentee the information pertaining to the required tool-tissue interactions during the surgery. The aim of this work is to assess the effects of using a virtual reality environment at mentor's site (in contrast to conventional visualization on a two-dimensional screen) during surgical telementoring. A user study is conducted simulating motion of virtual surgical instrument in an open surgery. The results show that mentor is able to demonstrate with higher accuracy and in shorter duration, the required virtual surgical instrument motions. Thus, rendering information to the mentor in an immersive virtual reality environment assists in better understanding of the operative field and enhanced control of the virtual surgical instrument motion. This further aids in conveying accurate information pertaining to the tool-tissue interaction to the mentee.