Improving hand-eye-coordination in laparoscopy using a virtual endoscope monitor

PURPOSE: While laparoscopic procedures offer considerable advantages for the patient, they pose substantial challenges for the surgeon, whose hand-eye coordination is impaired. One reason for this is the surgeon's lost visual access to the surgical field, who is instead provided with an endoscopic image on a stationary monitor. In the present study, an optical see-through head-mounted display (OST-HMD) was used to display a virtual endoscope monitor. Unlike stationary monitors, this allows the endoscope image to be projected at arbitrary positions in the room. METHODS: to the left and right, and projected directly onto the surgical field. RESULTS: ) and the projection onto the surgical field compared to the other conditions. CONCLUSION: This study provides first evidence that an OST-HMD could be a suitable way for flexibly displaying endoscopic images in laparoscopy and could help improve the surgeon's hand-eye coordination, while at the same time being easily integrated into the clinical environment.