Effect of time delay on surgical performance during telesurgical manipulation

Background: Telementoring allows a less experienced surgeon to benefit from an expert surgical consultation, reducing cost, travel, and the learning c urve associated with new procedures, However, there are several technical l imitations that affect practical applications, One potentially serious prob lem is the time delay that occurs any time data are transferred across long distances, To date, the effect of time delay on surgical performance has n ot been studied. Materials and Methods: A two-phase trial was designed to examine the effect of time delay on surgical performance. In the first phase, a series of tas ks was performed, and the numbers of robotic movements required for complet ion was counted, Programmed incremental time delays were made in audiovisua l acquisition and robotic controls. The number of errors made while perform ing each task at various time delay intervals was noted. In the second phas e, a remote surgeon in Baltinore performed the tasks 9000 miles away in Sin gapore. The number of errors made was recorded, Results: As the time delay increased, the number of operator errors increas ed, The accuracy needed to perform remote robotic procedures was diminished as the time delay increased, A learning curve did exist for each task, but as the time delay interval increased, it took longer to complete the task. Conclusions: Time delay does affect surgical performance. There is an accep table delay of <700 msec in which surgeons can compensate for this phenomen on. Clinical studies will be needed to evaluate the true impact of time del ay.