Virtual Reality Improves Outcomes in Robotic-assisted Partial Nephrectomy
Medical technology concept. Mixed media. Female doctor wearing virtual reality glasses. Checking brain testing result with simulator interface, Innovative technology in science and medicine.
The researchers, whose work appeared in JAMA Network Open, conducted a multi-institutional, single-blind, randomized clinical trial that included 92 patients (mean age, 60.9 years; 63% were male) who underwent RAPN under one of 11 surgeons at six large teaching hospitals. Data were collected from October 2017 through December 2018. The main outcome was operative time, which researchers believed would be reduced when using the 3-D virtual reality models; secondary outcomes included clamp time, estimated blood loss, and LOS.
“Surgeons have long since theorized that using 3D models would result in a better understanding of the patient anatomy, which would improve patient outcomes,” said lead study author Dr. Joseph Shirk, clinical instructor in urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA) and at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, in a press release. “But actually seeing evidence of this magnitude, generated by very experienced surgeons from leading medical centers, is an entirely different matter. This tells us that using 3D digital models for cancer surgeries is no longer something we should be considering for the future—it’s something we should be doing now.”
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