Effect of Playing Video Games on Laparoscopic Skills Performance: A Systematic Review.

Introduction The advances in both video games and minimally invasive surgery have allowed many to consider the potential positive relationship between the two. This review aims to evaluate outcomes of studies that investigated the correlation between video game skills and performance in laparoscopic surgery. Methods A systematic search was conducted on PubMed / Medline and EMBASE databases for the MeSH terms and keywords including "video games and laparoscopy", "computer games and laparoscopy", "Xbox and laparoscopy", "Nintendo Wii and laparoscopy" and "Playstation and laparoscopy". Cohort, case reports, letters, editorials, bulletins and reviews were excluded. Studies in English, with task performance as primary outcome, were included. The search period for this review was 1950 to December 2014. Results 57 abstracts were identified. 4 of these were found to be duplicates. 32 were found to be non relevant to the research question. Overall, 21 full texts were assessed; 16 were excluded according to the MERSQI quality assessment criteria. The five studies included in this review were randomised controlled trials. Playing video games was found to reduce error in two studies (p 0.002 and p 0.045). However for the same studies several other metrics assessed were not significantly different between the control and intervention group. One study showed a decrease in the time for the group that played video games (p 0.037) for one out of two laparoscopic tasks performed. However, in the same study when the groups were reversed (initial control group became intervention and vice versa) a difference was not demonstrated (p for peg transfer 1 - 0.465, p for cobra robe - 0.185). Finally, two further studies found no statistical difference between the game playing group and the control group's performance.

CONCLUSION:

There is a very limited amount of evidence to support that the use of video games enhances surgical simulation performance.