Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2006

Abstract

Background: Robotic laparoscopic surgery has been shown to decrease task completion time, reduce errors, and decrease training time when compared to manual laparoscopic surgery. However, current literature has not addressed physiological effects, in particular muscle responses, to training with a robotic surgical system. We seek to determine the frequency response of electromyographic (EMG) signals of specific arm and hand muscles with training using the da Vinci Surgical System (dVSS).

Methods: Seven right-handed medical students were trained in three tasks with da Vinci Surgical System over four weeks. These subjects, along with eight controls, were tested before and after training. Electromyographic (EMG) signals were collected from four arm and hand muscles during the testing sessions and the median EMG frequency and bandwidth were computed.

Results: The median frequency and frequency bandwidth both increased after training for two of the three tasks.

Conclusion: The results suggested that training reduces muscle fatigue as a result of faster and more deliberate movements. These changes occurred predominantly in muscles that were the dominant muscles for each task, whereas the more demanding task recruited more diverse motor units. An evaluation of the physiological demands of robotic laparoscopic surgery using electromyography can provide us with a meaningful quantitative way to examine performance and skill acquisition.

Comments

The final publication is available at Springer via http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00464-005-0334-z.

Journal Title

Surgical Endoscopy And Other Interventional Techniques

Volume

20

Issue

5

First Page

824

Last Page

829

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Biomechanics Commons

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