Novel low-cost prostate resection trainer-description and preliminary evaluation

• Published in: The international journal of medical robotics + computer assisted surgery Vol. 7; no. 3; pp. 367 - 373
• Main Authors: Ebbing, Jan, Schostak, Martin, Steiner, Ursula, Stier, Katja, Neymeyer, Jörg, Miller, Kurt, Baumunk, Daniel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.09.2011
• Subjects: BPH; Computer Simulation; Education, Medical - methods; Endoscopy; Humans; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; Internship and Residency; Learning Curve; Male; Medical; Prostate; Prostate - surgery; Prostatic Neoplasms - surgery; prostatic resection trainer; Robotics; Simulators; Software; Surgeons; surgical education; Teaching; Three dimensional; Training; Transurethral Resection of Prostate - education; Transurethral Resection of Prostate - methods; TURP; Urology - education; virtual simulator; TURP; virtual simulator; prostatic resection trainer; BPH; surgical education; learning curve
• ISSN: 1478-5951; 1478-596X; 1478-596X
• DOI: 10.1002/rcs.407

Background Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) is a challenging operation for residents with limited endoscopic experience. A number of virtual TURP simulators have been validated in the past. This study is the first description and preliminary evaluation of a non‐virtual, low‐cost TURP trainer as a teaching tool for residents in urology. Methods Dr K. Forke's prostatic resection trainer (PRT; LS 10‐2/S, Samed GmbH, Dresden, Germany) was tested during the surgical training of a resident. Under the supervision of an experienced senior surgeon, three aspects were examined: the resection trainer's approximation to reality, the ease of instruction, and the potential capability to improve surgeons' psychomotor abilities with regard to the three‐dimensional (3D) guidance of the instrument. The improvement in resection speed (RS) of residents with no PRT training (control group) was also compared to the results of the PRT‐trained resident. Results During the PRT training, the resident displayed clear improvement in resection quality (RQ) and a 27% increase in RS (p = 0.03). In the post‐training stage, the PRT‐trained resident showed a more constant progress rate, to a maximum RS of 0.37 g/min (35% increase; p = 0.01), whereas the control group displayed varied RS learning curves. Composed of a synthetic material, which can be resected by standard instruments, the trainer offers a haptical experience that is particularly realistic and may provide an increased learning rate. Conclusion From the findings, we conclude that this novel PRT is suitable for daily use and offers an effective and more affordable alternative to virtual simulators. Further validation studies will follow and new fields of application will be tested. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.