Prevailing Trends in Haptic Feedback Simulation for Minimally Invasive Surgery

Background The amount of direct hand-tool-tissue interaction and feedback in minimally invasive surgery varies from being attenuated in laparoscopy to being completely absent in robotic minimally invasive surgery. The role of haptic feedback during surgical skill acquisition and its emphasis in training have been a constant source of controversy. This review discusses the major developments in haptic simulation as they relate to surgical performance and the current research questions that remain unanswered. Search Strategy An in-depth review of the literature was performed using PubMed. Results A total of 198 abstracts were returned based on our search criteria. Three major areas of research were identified, including advancements in 1 of the 4 components of haptic systems, evaluating the effectiveness of haptic integration in simulators, and improvements to haptic feedback in robotic surgery. Conclusions Force feedback is the best method for tissue identification in minimally invasive surgery and haptic feedback provides the greatest benefit to surgical novices in the early stages of their training. New technology has improved our ability to capture, playback and enhance to utility of haptic cues in simulated surgery. Future research should focus on deciphering how haptic training in surgical education can increase performance, safety, and improve training efficiency.