Evaluation of an augmented reality platform for austere surgical telementoring: a randomized controlled crossover study in cricothyroidotomies

Abstract

Telementoring platforms can help transfer surgical expertise remotely. However, most telementoring platforms are not designed to assist in austere, pre-hospital settings. This paper evaluates the system for telementoring with augmented reality (STAR), a portable and self-contained telementoring platform based on an augmented reality head-mounted display (ARHMD). The system is designed to assist in austere scenarios: a stabilized first-person view of the operating field is sent to a remote expert, who creates surgical instructions that a local first responder wearing the ARHMD can visualize as three-dimensional models projected onto the patient's body. Our hypothesis evaluated whether remote guidance with STAR could lead to performing a surgical procedure better, as opposed to remote audio-only guidance. Remote expert surgeons guided first responders through training cricothyroidotomies in a simulated austere scenario, and on-site surgeons evaluated the participants using standardized evaluation tools. The evaluation comprehended completion time and technique performance of specific cricothyroidotomy steps. The analyses were also performed considering the participants' years of experience as first responders, and their experience performing cricothyroidotomies. A linear mixed model analysis showed that using STAR was associated with higher procedural and non-procedural scores, and overall better performance. Additionally, a binary logistic regression analysis showed that using STAR was associated to safer and more successful executions of cricothyroidotomies. This work demonstrates that remote mentors can use STAR to provide first responders with guidance and surgical knowledge, and represents a first step towards the adoption of ARHMDs to convey clinical expertise remotely in austere scenarios.

Keywords: Computer science; Health care.

Fig. 1. Schematic of the STAR platform.

By integrating image stabilization routines with the ability to project mentor-authored surgical instructions onto the operating field, this portable system is designed to convey clinical expertise in austere scenarios. The trainee showcased gave written informed consent to have their photo used for this image.

Fig. 2. Architecture of the STAR platform.

The view of the local mentee’s operating field is transferred over a network connection. After applying image stabilization routines, a remote mentor creates surgical instructions over this view, which are transferred to the mentee. The mentor-authored annotations can be projected onto the patient’s body at the correct position and depth thanks to the geometric reconstruction of the operating field created by the ARHMD.