title: The impact of latency on surgical precision and task completion during robotic-assisted remote telepresence surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  It has been suggested that robotic-assisted remote telepresence surgery with a signal transmission latency of greater than 300 ms may not be possible.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated the impact of four different latencies of up to 500 ms on task completion and error rate in five surgeons after completion of three different surgical tasks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The surgeons were able to complete all tasks with a latency of 500 ms. However, higher latency was associated with higher error rates and task completion time (TCT). There were significant variations between surgeons and different tasks.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Surgeons are able to complete tasks with a signal transmission latency of up to 500 ms. The clinical impact of slower TCT and increased error rates encountered at higher latency needs to be established.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Minimal Access Surgery, St. Joseph's Healthcare, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. anvari@mcmaster.ca
authors.forename: Mehran
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Anvari
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Broderick
authors.forename: Harvey
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Stein
authors.forename: Trevor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chapman
authors.forename: Moji
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghodoussi
authors.forename: Daniel W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Birch
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McKinley
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Trudeau
authors.forename: Sanjeev
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dutta
authors.forename: Charles H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Goldsmith
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D006801:Humans; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control; D012371:Robotics; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D025321:Surgery, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D013997:Time Factors