PURPOSE To assess efficacy of immersive virtual reality (VR) surgical simulator training for pedicle screw placement (PSP) in surgical graduate students. METHODS Sixteen inexperienced surgical graduate students were equally randomly assigned to an experimental group (VR group) and a control group (non-VR group). Students in the VR group performed PSP on the immersive VR surgical simulator, and students in the non-VR group were given a traditional introductory teaching session before a cadaver test. Eight adult fresh cadavers, 6 male and 2 female, were collected and randomly allocated to the 2 groups. Each group performed bilateral T11-L4 PSP on the cadavers independently, and the outcomes of PSP in terms of accuracy, success rate, and efficiency were assessed by computed tomography and compared between the 2 groups statistically. RESULTS Accuracy rate of PSP in the VR group was 89.6% versus 60.4% in the non-VR group (P < 0.05), success rate was 100% versus 79.2% (P < 0.05), and mean time was 2.8 ± 1 minutes versus 4.9 ± 1 minutes (P < 0.05), all showing significant differences between the 2 groups. CONCLUSIONS The immersive VR surgical simulator for PSP training model is superior to the traditional training model in terms of accuracy, success rate, and efficiency, showing potential in training new orthopedic spine surgeons.

中文翻译：

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椎弓根螺钉放置的沉浸式虚拟现实手术模拟器训练的功效：随机双盲对照试验。

目的评估沉浸式虚拟现实（VR）手术模拟器训练对外科研究生的椎弓根螺钉放置（PSP）的功效。方法将16名无经验的外科研究生平均分为实验组（VR组）和对照组（非VR组）。VR组的学生在沉浸式VR手术模拟器上执行PSP，非VR组的学生在进行尸体测试之前接受了传统的入门教学。收集了八只成年新鲜尸体，分别为雄性6例和雌性2例，并将其随机分配至两组。每组分别对尸体进行双侧T11-L4 PSP，并通过计算机断层摄影术评估PSP在准确性，成功率和效率方面的结果，并在两组之间进行统计学比较。结果VR组的PSP准确率为89.6％，而非VR组的准确率为60.4％（P <0.05），成功率为100％对79.2％（P <0.05），平均时间为2.8±1分钟4.9±1分钟（P <0.05），两组之间均显示出显着差异。结论用于PSP培训的沉浸式VR外科手术模拟器在准确性，成功率和效率方面优于传统的培训模型，显示出在培训新的骨科脊柱外科医生方面的潜力。