title: Impact of examinees' stereopsis and near visual acuity on laparoscopic virtual reality performance.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Laparoscopic surgery represents specific challenges, such as the reduction of a three-dimensional anatomic environment to two dimensions. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the loss of the third dimension on laparoscopic virtual reality (VR) performance.
  
  
  METHODS
  We compared a group of examinees with impaired stereopsis (group 1, n = 28) to a group with accurate stereopsis (group 2, n = 29). The primary outcome was the difference between the mean total score (MTS) of all tasks taken together and the performance in task 3 (eye-hand coordination), which was a priori considered to be the most dependent on intact stereopsis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The MTS and performance in task 3 tended to be slightly, but not significantly, better in group 2 than in group 1 [MTS: -0.12 (95 % CI -0.32, 0.08; p = 0.234); task 3: -0.09 (95 % CI -0.29, 0.11; p = 0.385)]. The difference of MTS between simulated impaired stereopsis between group 2 (by attaching an eye patch on the adominant eye in the 2nd run) and the first run of group 1 was not significant (MTS: p = 0.981; task 3: p = 0.527).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We were unable to demonstrate an impact of impaired examinees' stereopsis on laparoscopic VR performance. Individuals with accurate stereopsis seem to be able to compensate for the loss of the third dimension in laparoscopic VR simulations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University Hospital Basel, Spitalstrasse 21, 4031, Basel, Switzerland. henry.hoffmann@usb.ch.
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Schirinzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Goldblum
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University Hospital Basel, Spitalstrasse 21, 4031, Basel, Switzerland.|Basel Institute for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Salome
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dell-Kuster
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University Hospital Basel, Spitalstrasse 21, 4031, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Oertli
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University Hospital Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hahnloser
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University Hospital Basel, Spitalstrasse 21, 4031, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rosenthal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003867:Depth Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Laparoscopy; Simulation; Stereopsis; Virtual reality; Visual impairment