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Surgeons who play games on the Nintendo Wii may perform better in the operating theatre, according to a US study.
The Wii is a games console which uses a wireless controller to detect hand movements in three dimensions. Not all games are beneficial, but those that require fine motor control such as Marble Mania appear to have a positive effect. In this game, players guide a ball through a 3D obstacle course, requiring finely-controlled hand movements. This type of dexterity is similar to that required for keyhole surgery. Games which require less precise movement, such as swinging an imaginary racket in Wii tennis, are not helpful at all.
The study looked at the performance of 16 trainee surgeons doing a simulated laparoscopic procedure on a computer simulator. Half of the trainees spent an hour playing Marble Mania and a suite of games called Wii Play, using a specially designed controller adapted from the Wii golf club add on. The other eight didn’t play. Then all 16 did the virtual reality surgical procedure. Those who had had a Wii warm up showed up to 50% better scalpel control and overall performance than their colleagues.
The research team are now designing Wii software that can accurately simulate surgical procedures. Games consoles such as the Wii are relatively cheap and a Wii surgery simulator could have a number of applications. The researchers hope that they could be used to train surgeons in poorer countries where cutting-edge virtual reality surgery simulators are prohibitively expensive. Surgeons could also use them to keep their skills up to scratch by practising on a Wii at home.
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