Intelligent Virtual Reality Curriculum for Personalized Surgical Training

PROJECT SUMMARY The problems with current surgical training paradigms include the failure of opportunities for training to keep up with rising demandssurgeons in practice often have limited time and resources to practiceleading to risky usage of more complex technologiesSuccessful utilization of virtual realityVRin surgical training has led to the wide spread adoption of such systems in General Surgery training programshoweverthe focus on high fidelitynear real life environments has made the methodology prohibitively expensive and inaccessibleThis resource intensiveness has resulted in generalized VR modules that do not target specific procedures or skillsConsidering the increasing number of new and complex devices coming onto the market and the direct link between volume of procedures and surgical expertisethe healthcare field must see a radical shift in the use of surgeon training technology in order to maximize quality training time before trainees enter the workforceThe current state of VR is ill fit to be a true surgical training supplement as it cannot fulfil this needOsso VR is developing a solution to this issueThe Smart Curriculuma purposefully low fidelity VR based training curriculum that incorporates an artificial intelligenceAIto adapt the session and curriculum to a trainee s performanceA low fidelity approach has been shown in pilot studies to have equal transfer rates compared to high fidelity while being much less resource intensivethus making it ideal for broadening the accessibility of VRAn AI to customize a procedure to a surgeon s performance and background will provide targeted practice to hone procedure familiarity and surgical skillThusthe combination of VR and AI will show increased transfer rates compared to classic VR paradigms at a fraction of the costPracticing surgical techniques on demand with direct quantitative feedback plays an essential part in developing the needed expertise to aimprove the quality of the outcomes for patients and bimprove efficiency in the surgical technique thereby reducing the operating timeThe work proposed in this Phase I project will focus on developing a proof of concept AI incorporated module for the treatment of hip fractures with a cephalomedullary fixation device as a proof of conceptThe proposed system will allow orthopedic surgeons to enhance their training in a virtual environment and predict the outcome of interventional decisions before actual surgery without any risks to the patientsThe work plan for this Phase I SBIR project will be accomplished by first establishing all key subject matter and technical needs for the cephalomedullary fixation procedure to determine key learning milestones for a pilot proceduresecondwe will determine the parameters for and wireframe the AIfinallywe will build necessary technical components for the prototype training module to validate the pilot procedureOsso VR is the current leader in the fieldand the addition of an AI component to individualize each surgeon s training experience will be invaluable to revolutionizing the surgical training paradigm The proposed project is a purposefully low fidelity virtual reality based surgical training curriculum that incorporates an artificial intelligence to adapt the session and curriculum to a trainee s performanceThis technology will provide new surgeons with targeted practice to hone their procedural familiarity and surgical skill to improve proficiencythus reducing training costs and operating timeand improving surgical outcomes for patients