RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Invasive electrophysiology (EP) training requires intellectual skills related to the interpretation of intracardiac electrograms. The classic approach to the education of young electrophysiologists focused solely on theoretical knowledge and overseen procedures in patients as no real-life-like simulation of EP studies was available. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess a novel tool for EP training based on fully interactive, online simulator providing real clinical experience to the users. METHODS: EP simulator users access a system with simulated electrocardiogram, mimicking signals recorded by a catheter. Assessment of EP simulator by 40 electrophysiologists from 16 countries was collected via online questionnaire. RESULTS: The realism of ECG signals was described as excellent or very good by 90% of responders, of intracardial signals by 82.5%. Realism of signal interactions and user experience was judged as excellent or very good by 75% and 70% accordingly. One hundred percent of users agree definitely or mostly that EP Simulator helps to translate theoretical into practical knowledge. Of responders, 97.5% would include it in EP training programs as it is extremely or very useful for training purposes in the opinion of 87.5%. Of responders, 72.5% think that training on EP simulator can potentially reduce the rate of complications. In 87.5%, the overall experience was completely or mostly satisfying and would be recommended by 100% of responders. CONCLUSION: EP simulator is a feasible tool for training of young electrophysiologist, and it may be potentially included in the cardiologist curriculum. We should particularly emphasize the positive respondents' assessment of EP simulator overall realism.
RESUMEN
Graphical visualization systems are a common clinical tool for displaying digital images and three-dimensional volumetric data. These systems provide a broad spectrum of information to support physicians in their clinical routine. For example, the field of radiology enjoys unrestricted options for interaction with the data, since information is pre-recorded and available entirely in digital form. However, some fields, such as microsurgery, do not benefit from this yet. Microscopes, endoscopes, and laparoscopes show the surgical site as it is. To allow free data manipulation and information fusion, 3D digitization of surgical sites is required. We aimed to find the number of cameras needed to add this functionality to surgical microscopes. For this, we performed in silico simulations of the 3D reconstruction of representative models of microsurgical sites with different numbers of cameras in narrow-baseline setups. Our results show that eight independent camera views are preferable, while at least four are necessary for a digital surgical site. In most cases, eight cameras allow the reconstruction of over 99% of the visible part. With four cameras, still over 95% can be achieved. This answers one of the key questions for the development of a prototype microscope. In future, such a system can provide functionality which is unattainable today.