Student “trains” brain surgeons

Research pits video gamers against doctors

By Laurie Wang

When 19-year-old May Choi approached Dr. Garnette Sutherland in hopes of doing a research project, she didn’t expect she’d be creating a computer program to train brain surgeons. And she really didn’t expect she’d be comparing the skill level of video gamers to surgeons.

As part of the Bachelor of Health Sciences program in the Faculty of Medicine, Choi planned to get some research experience over the summer. After an interview with Sutherland, the second-year student became fascinated with his neuroArm project.

NeuroArm is a magnetic resonance imaging compatible surgical robot that allows neurosurgeons to see the image of the brain on a screen at an extremely high resolution, while controlling the robot outside the operating room.

The virtual trainer that Choi used for her project is identical to the actual neuroArm workstation, allowing surgeons to get more comfortable with hand controllers and robotic arms before attempting the real thing.

“Because neuroArm is a new instrument for surgeons, it’s nice to have a platform where they can gain skills needed to use the robot,” Sutherland says.

In enhancing the software for the trainer, Choi compared neurosurgeons to video gamers, evaluating their ability to accomplish tasks using virtual technology.

Her study compared four groups of people: video gamers, medical students, surgical residents and surgeons from various subspecialties.

Subjects had to complete three tasks on the virtual trainer by controlling robotic hands that would manipulate objects in virtual space: build a snowman, pick up objects out of a box (similar to a biopsy) and thread a needle through a ladder (simulating suturing). Performance was graded by the time for task completion, number of errors and quality of outcome.

“Video gamers were the best and quickest at adapting to the neuroArm trainer,” Choi says. “They maintained a high score through each task and each repeated trial, even when they switched hands.”
Choi noticed that as the age of participants increased, their quality of performance decreased while time to complete tasks increased. Also, she found the men scored higher than the women initially, but over time, the women caught up to their male counterparts.

“This shows that once someone gets used to the trainer, they are able to improve their skills,” she says. “The surgeons and residents improved greatly after spending more time on the machine.”

Choi is quick to point out that she is not suggesting neurosurgeons go out and play video games for hours. “Video games may help surgeons get used to virtual technology, but we must do further studies and look at confounding factors.”

This article is reprinted with permission from the Faculty of Medicine’s Your Faculty magazine.