Motion Smoothness-Based Assessment of Surgical Expertise: The Importance of Selecting Proper Metrics

The smooth movement of hand/surgical instruments is considered an indicator of skilled, coordinated surgical performance. Jerky surgical instrument movements or hand tremors can cause unwanted damages to the surgical site. Different methods have been used in previous studies for assessing motion smo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2023-03, Vol.23 (6), p.3146
Main Authors: Aghazadeh, Farzad, Zheng, Bin, Tavakoli, Mahdi, Rouhani, Hossein
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Hand
Humans
Laparoscopy
Medical equipment
minimally invasive surgery
Motion
motion jerk
motion tracking
Movement
movement smoothness
Noise measurement
Physiological apparatus
Rubber
Skills
Smoothness
Surgeons
Surgery
Surgical apparatus & instruments
Surgical Instruments
Surgical outcomes
surgical skill assessment
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Summary:The smooth movement of hand/surgical instruments is considered an indicator of skilled, coordinated surgical performance. Jerky surgical instrument movements or hand tremors can cause unwanted damages to the surgical site. Different methods have been used in previous studies for assessing motion smoothness, causing conflicting results regarding the comparison among surgical skill levels. We recruited four attending surgeons, five surgical residents, and nine novices. The participants conducted three simulated laparoscopic tasks, including peg transfer, bimanual peg transfer, and rubber band translocation. Tooltip motion smoothness was computed using the mean tooltip motion jerk, logarithmic dimensionless tooltip motion jerk, and 95% tooltip motion frequency (originally proposed in this study) to evaluate their capability of surgical skill level differentiation. The results revealed that logarithmic dimensionless motion jerk and 95% motion frequency were capable of distinguishing skill levels, indicated by smoother tooltip movements observed in high compared to low skill levels. Contrarily, mean motion jerk was not able to distinguish the skill levels. Additionally, 95% motion frequency was less affected by the measurement noise since it did not require the calculation of motion jerk, and 95% motion frequency and logarithmic dimensionless motion jerk yielded a better motion smoothness assessment outcome in distinguishing skill levels than mean motion jerk.
ISSN:1424-8220
1424-8220
DOI:10.3390/s23063146