Surgeon perspectives on a virtual reality platform for preoperative planning in complex bone sarcomas

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic Oncology
• Surgical Planning
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Primary bone and soft tissue sarcomas require complete surgical resection.
• Challenging cases like pelvic sarcomas have low survival rates (27-40%).
• Accurate preoperative planning is crucial for improving resection quality and reducing recurrence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the utility of a virtual reality (VR) platform for preoperative planning in pelvic bone sarcoma.
• To assess VR's impact on surgical approach and understanding of tumor characteristics.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of four pelvic bone sarcoma cases with failed resection.
• Comparison of surgeon performance using 2D imaging versus 3D VR models.
• Questionnaires and Likert-scale surveys to evaluate understanding and confidence.

Main Results:

• VR improved tumor border delineation (66.6% vs 0%) and adjacent structure involvement assessment.
• Surgeons considered changing surgical approach or margins in 44.4% of cases after VR review.
• VR use increased surgeon confidence in approach and obtaining negative margins.

Conclusions:

• Virtual reality enhances understanding of complex pelvic tumor environments.
• VR technology can improve preoperative planning and surgical approach for pelvic bone sarcomas.
• Increased confidence and improved communication are key benefits of VR in surgical planning.