Assessing Neurosurgical Performance in brain Tumor resection

The NeuroTouch platform is a virtual reality simulator with haptic feedback utilized to assess neurosurgical performance in experimental risk-free environments. Validation of NeuroTouch is critical to the goal of using this simulator in neurosurgical training, evaluation and curriculum development. This study is the first to demonstrate significant differences in neurosurgical bimanual performance of neurosurgical groups based on thecomplexity of simulated tumour. Increasing tumour complexity by changing the colour, increasing density, and decreasing border distinction influenced bimanual performance of the residents more than the neurosurgeons. The main strength of this study is that it has served to develop a group of novel new metrics 24 that provide objective measures of technical skills required to perform a neurosurgical procedure.