title: Impact of laparoscopic experience on virtual robotic simulator dexterity.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Different skills are required for robotic surgery and laparoscopic surgery. We hypothesized that the laparoscopic experience would not affect the performance with the da Vinci(®) system. A virtual robotic simulator was used to estimate the operator's robotic dexterity.
  
  
  METHODS
  The performance of 11 surgical fellows with laparoscopic experience and 14 medical students were compared using the dV-trainer(®). Each subject completed three virtual endo-wrist modules ("Pick and Place," "Peg Board," and "Match Board"). Performance was recorded using a built-in scoring algorithm.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the Peg Board module, the performance of surgical fellows was better in terms of the number of instrument collisions and number of drops (P < 0.05). However, no significant differences were found in the percentage scores of the three endo-wrist modules between the groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Robotic dexterity was not significantly affected by laparoscopic experience in this study. Laparoscopic experience is not an important factor for learning robotic skills.
authors.affiliation: Division of Colorectal Surgery, Department of Surgery, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Byung Eun
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.affiliation: Division of Colorectal Surgery, Department of Surgery, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Division of Colorectal Surgery, Department of Surgery, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jae Sung
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Division of Colorectal Surgery, Department of Surgery, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jae Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.affiliation: Division of Colorectal Surgery, Department of Surgery, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Dong Won
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Division of Colorectal Surgery, Department of Surgery, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jung Myun
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kwak
authors.affiliation: Division of Colorectal Surgery, Department of Surgery, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Seon Hahn
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: Da Vinci; dV-trainer; laparoscopic experience; robotic surgery