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World J Transplant. Feb 18, 2023; 13(2): 36-43
Published online Feb 18, 2023. doi: 10.5500/wjt.v13.i2.36
Exploring the use of virtual reality in surgical education
Georgios Ntakakis, Christina Plomariti, Christos Frantzidis, Panagiotis E Antoniou, Panagiotis D Bamidis, Georgios Tsoulfas
Georgios Ntakakis, Christina Plomariti, Panagiotis E Antoniou, Panagiotis D Bamidis, Department of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece
Christos Frantzidis, School of Computer Science, University of Lincoln, Lincoln LN6 7TS, United Kingdom
Georgios Tsoulfas, Department of Surgery, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece
Author contributions: Ntakakis G search the database; Ntakakis G and Plomariti C check the articles against the inclusion criteria; Ntakakis G, Plomariti C, Frantzidis C, and Antoniou PE wrote the manuscript; All authors have read and approved the final version to be submitted.
Supported by Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI) Under The 3rd Call for HFRI PhD Fellowships, No. 6232; “Evaluating Novel Tangible and Intangible Co-creative Experiential Medical Education” (ENTICE) Knowledge Alliances for Higher Education Project, Co-funded By The Erasmus + Program of The European Union, No. 612444-EPP-1-2019-1-CY-EPPKA2-KA.
Conflict-of-interest statement: George Ntakakis is an employee of Laboratory of Medical Physics and Digital Innovation, Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece. Christina Plomariti is an employee of Laboratory of Medical Physics and Digital Innovation, Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece. Christos A. Frantzidis is a senior lecturer of School of Computer Science, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK. Panagiotis Antoniou is an employee of Laboratory of Medical Physics and Digital Innovation, Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece. Panagiotis Bamidis is a professor of Laboratory of Medical Physics and Digital Innovation, Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece. Georgios Tsoulfas is a professor of Department of Transplantation and Surgery, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Georgios Ntakakis, MSc, Research Scientist, Department of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Building D, Entrance 8, 3rd Floor Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece. gntakakis@outlook.com
Received: September 5, 2022
Peer-review started: September 5, 2022
First decision: October 31, 2022
Revised: November 14, 2022
Accepted: January 3, 2023
Article in press: January 3, 2023
Published online: February 18, 2023
Processing time: 163 Days and 21.5 Hours
Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) technologies have rapidly developed in the past few years. The most common application of the technology, apart from gaming, is for educational purposes. In the field of healthcare, VR technologies have been applied in several areas. Among them is surgical education. With the use of VR, surgical pathways along with the training of surgical skills can be explored safely, in a cost-effective manner. The aim of this mini-review was to explore the use of VR in surgical education and in the 3D reconstruction of internal organs and viable surgical pathways. Finally, based on the outcomes of the included studies, an ecosystem for the implementation of surgical training was proposed.

Keywords: Surgical education; Virtual reality; Abdominal surgery; Simulation

Core Tip: This mini-review aims to explore the use of virtual reality in surgical education and in the 3D reconstruction of internal organs and viable surgical pathways. For this purpose, a non-systematic literature review was conducted and three highly influential scientific papers were selected and discussed. The main topics addressed are the use of technologies in surgical education, the methodologies for the implementation of the training systems, the evaluation approaches and the strengths and limitations of the studies. Finally, the review concluded with a comparative synthesis of the main findings and a discussion on the proposal of a system for implementing these findings on surgical education in the field of organ transplantation.