Impact of Three-Dimensional Surgical Simulation on Pancreatic Surgery.

Background/aims: Anatomical variations are frequently encountered during hepato-biliary-pancreatic surgeries, requiring surgeons to have a precise understanding of the surgical anatomy in order to perform a safe surgery. We evaluated the impact of novel three-dimensional (3D) surgical simulation on pancreatic surgeries to enhance surgical residents' understanding.

Methodology: Between January 2013 and May 2014, 61 preoperative 3D surgical simulations were performed. The consistency (0-10, with 10 representing 100% consistency) among the 15 surgical residents' anatomical drawings from multidetector computed tomography images and the simulated 3D images by SYNAPSE VINCENT® was assessed. We divided the surgical residents into two groups - first- to fifth-year postgraduate doctors (group A) and sixth- to tenth-year postgraduate doctors (group B) - and compared the self-assessment scores between these two groups.

Results: In terms of the self-assessment scores, a statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: In this study, 3D surgical simulation was useful for preoperative assessments prior to pancreatic surgery, especially in younger postgraduate surgeons.