Evaluation of image guided robot assisted surgical training for patient specific laparoscopic surgery

Image guided robot assisted surgical (IRAS) training was applied to train users in acquiring motor skills for laparoscopic surgery. Virtual surgery experiments were conducted to verify the effectiveness of this training method and compare with that of conventional training. The participants received image guided robot assisted training spent lesser time and shorter trajectory length in completing the same tasks when comparing with participants who were trained by conventional training method. Performance of the two groups of participants were also evaluated by a Hidden Markov Model which represents the surgeon’s performance.The group receiving IRAS training achieved higher probability of observation sequences than that of the group receiving conventional training. This study suggests that the IRAS training method is effective in transferring motor skills from surgeon to other users.