Accelerated in part by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, medical education has
increasingly moved into the virtual sphere in recent years. Virtual surgical education
encompasses several domains, including live virtual surgery and virtual and augmented
reality. These technologies range in complexity from streaming audio and video of
surgeries in real-time to fully immersive virtual simulations of surgery. This article
reviews the current use of virtual surgical education and its possible applications
in hand surgery. Applications of virtual technologies for preoperative planning and
intraoperative guidance, as well as care in underresourced settings, are discussed.
The authors describe their experience creating a virtual surgery subinternship with
live virtual surgeries. There are many roles virtual technology can have in surgery,
and this review explores potential value these technologies may have in hand surgery.
Key words
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Journal of Hand SurgeryAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Disruption to surgical training during Covid-19 in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australasia: A rapid review of impact and mitigation efforts.J Surg Educ. 2021; 78: 308-314
- Elective surgery in the time of COVID-19.Am J Surg. 2020; 219: 900-902
- Learner Preferences and perceptions of virtual hand surgery education during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Hand Surg Am. Published online December 9, 2021.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhsa.2021.11.009
- Live broadcast of surgery through the Internet.Lancet. 1996; 348: 1314
- Interactive live-stream surgery contributes to surgical education in the context of contact restrictions.Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2022; 279: 2865-2871
- Does livestreaming surgical education have the future? Development and participant evaluation of a national COVID-19 livestreaming initiative.Surg Endosc. 2022; 36: 6214-6222
- How to shoot and edit high-quality surgical videos for hand and upper extremity surgery.J Hand Surg Am. 2022; 47: 471-474
- The use of live streaming technologies in surgery: a review of the literature.Ann Plast Surg. 2022; 88: 122-127
- Wireless live streaming video of surgical operations: an evaluation of communication quality.J Telemed Telecare. 2007; 13: 391-396
- Live surgical demonstrations in urology: valuable educational tool or putting patients at risk?.BJU Int. 2010; 106: 1571-1574
- Systematic review of live surgical demonstrations and their effectiveness on training.Br J Surg. 2014; 101: 1637-1643
- Guidelines to Live Presentations of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.http://jscvs.umin.ac.jp/eng/live.htmlDate accessed: June 29, 2022
- Guidelines for Using Cardiothoracic Operations as a Teaching Instrument.
- Standard Operating Practices Live Surgery.https://web.archive.org/web/20150913060501/https://www.auanet.org/common/pdf/about/AUA-Live-Surgery-SOP.pdfDate accessed: February 4, 2023
European Association of Urology. EAU Policy Statement on Live Surgery Events. Accessed June 29, 2022. https://d56bochluxqnz.cloudfront.net/media/EAU-Live-Surgery-Endorsement-Guide-2021.pdf Somani B, Liatsikos E, Mottrie A, et al. Outcomes of EAU-endorsed live surgical events over a 5-year period (2015-2020) and updated guidelines from the EAU Live Surgery Committee. Eur Urol. 2021;80(5):592–600.
- Live demonstration of surgery across international borders with uncompressed high-definition quality.HPB (Oxford). 2007; 9: 398-399
- Global hand surgery: initiatives that work (The Touching Hands Project): why, when, and how!.Hand Clin. 2019; 35: 499-506
- Google Glass for remote surgical tele-proctoring in low- and middle-income countries: A feasibility study from Mozambique.Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open. 2018; 6: e1999
- The new frontier: a review of augmented reality and virtual reality in plastic surgery.Aesthet Surg J. 2019; 39: 1007-1016
- Virtual planning of composite mandibular reconstruction with free fibula bone graft.J Craniofac Surg. 2005; 16: 1137-1140
- Computer assisted mandibular reconstruction using a custom-made titan mesh tray and removable denture based on the top-down treatment technique.J Prosthodont Res. 2016; 60: 321-331
- Computer imaging and surgical reality in aesthetic rhinoplasty.Plast Reconstr Surg. 2005; 115: 2098-2104
- Computed tomographic angiography with VirSSPA three-dimensional software for perforator navigation improves perioperative outcomes in DIEP flap breast reconstruction.Plast Reconstr Surg. 2010; 125: 24-31
- Using virtual reality to control preoperative anxiety in ambulatory surgery patients: A pilot study in maxillofacial and plastic surgery.J Stomatol Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2018; 119: 257-261
- Virtual reality simulation in plastic surgery training. Literature review.J Plast Reconstr Aesthet Surg. 2021; 74: 2372-2378
- The role of virtual reality in surgical training in otorhinolaryngology.Curr Opin Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2007; 15: 163-169
- Making augmented and virtual reality work for the plastic surgeon.Ann Plast Surg. 2019; 82: 363-368
- Virtual, augmented, and mixed reality applications in orthopedic surgery.Int J Med Robot. 2020; 16: e2067
- Application of AR and VR in hand rehabilitation: A systematic review.J Biomed Inform. 2020; 111: 103584
- Virtual rehabilitation in an activity centre for community-dwelling persons with stroke. The possibilities of 3-dimensional computer games.Cerebrovasc Dis. 2008; 26: 289-296
- Evaluation of leap motion control for hand rehabilitation in burn patients: An experience in the dust explosion disaster in Formosa Fun Coast.Burns. 2019; 45: 157-164
- Effects of a game-based virtual reality video capture training program plus occupational therapy on manual dexterity in patients with multiple sclerosis: A randomized controlled trial.J Healthc Eng. 2019; 2019: 9780587
- Surgical education module improves operative proficiency in endoscopic carpal tunnel release: A blinded randomized controlled trial of trainees.J Surg Educ. 2018; 75: 442-449
- Google Glass in the operating room: the plastic surgeon’s perspective.Plast Reconstr Surg. 2016; 138: 298-302
- Effectiveness of a novel augmented reality-based navigation system in treatment of orbital hypertelorism.Ann Plast Surg. 2016; 77: 662-668
- A novel augmented reality-based navigation system in perforator flap transplantation - A feasibility study.Ann Plast Surg. 2017; 79: 192-196
- Teleproctoring for neurovascular procedures: demonstration of concept using optical see-through head-mounted display, interactive mixed reality, and virtual space sharing-A critical need highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic.AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2021; 42: 1109-1115
- Virtual connections: improving global neurosurgery through immersive technologies.Front Surg. 2021; 8: 629963
- User experience with low-cost virtual reality cancer surgery simulation in an African setting.JCO Glob Oncol. 2021; 7: 435-442
- Using low-cost virtual reality simulation to build surgical capacity for cervical cancer treatment.J Glob Oncol. 2019; 5: 1-7
- Establishing collaborations in global neurosurgery: the role of InterSurgeon.J Clin Neurosci. 2022; 100: 164-168
- The initial experience of InterSurgeon: an online platform to facilitate global neurosurgical partnerships.Neurosurg Focus. 2020; 48: E15
- Availability and quality of online information on sub-internships in U.S. Orthopaedic residency programs.JB JS Open Access. 2019; (e0036): 4
- Resident selection protocols in plastic surgery: a national survey of plastic surgery program directors.Plast Reconstr Surg. 2008; 122: 1929-1939
- Away rotations and matching in integrated plastic surgery residency: applicant and program director perspectives.Plast Reconstr Surg. 2016; 137: 1337-1343
- The efficacy of virtual subinternships as a novel educational platform for education and recruitment.Plast Reconstr Surg. 2021; 148: 691e-693e
- Plastic surgery away rotations during the coronavirus disease pandemic: A virtual experience.Ann Plast Surg. 2022; 88: 594-598
- Establishing a virtual curriculum for surgical subinternships.Plast Reconstr Surg. 2020; 146: 525e-527e
- Implementing live virtual surgery in the COVID era: overcoming medicolegal, technical, and educational hurdles.Plast Reconstr Surg. 2021; 148: 1092e-1094e
- 4. Surgical simulation for metacarpal fracture fixation improves satisfaction, confidence and skill.Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open. 2022; 10: 2-3
- Disseminating technology in global surgery.Br J Surg. 2019; 106: e34-e43
- Shapiro LM; Global Quality in Upper Extremity Surgery and Training (Global QUEST) Investigators. Quality Measures to Deliver Safe, High-quality care on hand surgery outreach trips to low and middle-income countries.J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2021; 103: e32
Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 09, 2023
Accepted:
January 2,
2023
Received:
July 11,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofFootnotes
No benefits in any form have been received or will be received related directly to this article.
A.S.L and M.N.A. contributed equally to this work.
Identification
Copyright
© 2023 by the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. All rights reserved.
