TELESURGERY - ACCEPTABILITY OF COMPRESSED VIDEO FOR REMOTE SURGICAL PROCTORING

Objective: To determine the clinical acceptability of various levels o f video compression for remote proctoring of laparoscopic surgical pro cedures. Design: Observational, controlled study. Setting: Community-b ased teaching hospital. Participants: Physician and nurse observers. I nterventions: Controlled surgical video scenes were subjected to vario us levels of data compression for digital transmission and display and shown to participant observers. Main Outcome Measures: Clinical accep tability of video scenes after application of video compression. Resul ts: Clinically acceptable video compression was achieved with a 1.25-m egabit/second data rate, with the use of odd-screen 43.3:1 Joint Photo graphic Expert Group compression and a small screen for remote viewing . Conclusion: With proper video compression, remote proctoring of lapa roscopic procedures may be performed with standard 1.5-megabit/second telecommunication data lines and services.