title: Surgical approaches to complex vascular lesions: the use of virtual reality and stereoscopic analysis as a tool for resident and student education.
abstract: Virtual reality training for complex tasks has been shown to be of benefit in fields involving highly technical and demanding skill sets. The use of a stereoscopic three-dimensional (3D) virtual reality environment to teach a patient-specific analysis of the microsurgical treatment modalities of a complex basilar aneurysm is presented. Three different surgical approaches were evaluated in a virtual environment and then compared to elucidate the best surgical approach. These approaches were assessed with regard to the line-of-sight, skull base anatomy and visualisation of the relevant anatomy at the level of the basilar artery and surrounding structures. Overall, the stereoscopic 3D virtual reality environment with fusion of multimodality imaging affords an excellent teaching tool for residents and medical students to learn surgical approaches to vascular lesions. Future studies will assess the educational benefits of this modality and develop a series of metrics for student assessments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Medicine and Dentistry, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA.
authors.forename: Nitin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Schmitt
authors.forename: Vishad
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sukul
authors.forename: Charles J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Prestigiacomo
mesh_terms: D017542:Aneurysm, Ruptured / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D002533:Cerebral Angiography; D002648:Child; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D002532:Intracranial Aneurysm / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000193:education / Q000379:methods*; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D020535:Video-Assisted Surgery / Q000193:education / Q000379:methods*