Correlation of virtual reality performance with real-life cataract surgery performance

Purpose To investigate the correlation between performance on a virtual reality simulator and real-life cataract surgical performance. Setting Nine ophthalmology departments in Denmark and Copenhagen Academy for Medical Education and Simulation, Copenhagen, Denmark. Design Prospective multicenter study. Methods Cataract surgeons with different experience levels were included. The participants performed 3 consecutive video-recorded phacoemulsification surgeries that were rated by masked raters using the Objective Structured Assessment of Cataract Surgical Skills (OSACSS) scoring system. Thereafter, the participants performed a previously validated test on an Eyesi virtual reality simulator. Primary outcomes were the mean OSACSS score from all 3 surgeries and the simulator score from the participants' first repetition of the performance test. Result Nineteen surgeons participated. There was a statistically significant correlation between the simulator performance score and the mean OSACSS score across all experience levels, with a Pearson correlation of 0.65 (P = .003, R2 = 0.42). Conclusion Simulator performance was significantly correlated with real-life cataract surgical performance.