Tele-proctoring for minimally invasive surgery across Japan: An initial step toward a new approach to improving the disparity of surgical care and supporting surgical education

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to verify the clinical feasibility of tele-proctoring using our ultra-low latency communication system with shared internet access.

Methods: Connections between two multiple remote locations at various distances were established through the TELEPRO® tele-proctoring system. The server records the latency between the two locations for tele-proctoring using the annotations. Questionnaires were administered to the surgeons, assistants, and medical staff. Respondents rated the quickness and quality of communication in terms of latency and disturbances in the audio, video, and usefulness of the live telestrations with annotation.

Results: Seven hospitals tele-proctored with Sapporo Medical University between January 2021 and September 2022. The median latency of annotation between the two locations ranged from 24.5 to 48.5 ms. No major technological problems occurred, such as streaming interruption, loss of video or audio, poor resolution. The video encoding time was 10 ms, and its decoding time was 0.8 ms. The total latency positively correlated with the distance between two locations (R = 0.55, p < 0.01). The quality of communication regarding latency, disturbance, and surgical education with intraoperative annotative instructions showed similar trends, with perfectly fine being the most common response. No significant differences in surgical quality, educational effect, or social impact were observed between the latency ≥30 and <30 ms groups for whether the size of latency affects surgical education.

Conclusion: The feasibility of the tele-proctoring system is expected to be a sustainable approach to help education for young surgeons and surgical supports in rural areas, thereby reducing disparities in health care.

Keywords: disparities in health care; education; latency; minimally invasive surgery; surgical supports; tele‐proctoring.

FIGURE 1

Tele‐proctoring from Sapporo Medical University to University of the Ryukyus. A scene in showing the formation of a “triangulation” in the mesentery at the monitor of doctor's office at Sapporo Medical University (Figure 2A,B) and the operating room in University of the Ryukyus (Figure 2C).

FIGURE 2

Each component of latency in this study.

FIGURE 3

Equipment for tele‐proctoring‐assisted procedures between proctor's side and proctee's side through tele‐proctoring system TELEPRO® (Tenmashimon Co. Ltd.).

FIGURE 4

Verification of correlation between the distance of two locations and total latency.

FIGURE 5

The questionnaire about the quality of communication and surgical education with annotative instructions. The respondents were asked about latency and disturbance for each of audio (A), video (B), and annotation (C). The respondents were asked about surgical quality (D), educational effect (E), and social impact (F).