An experimental study about haptic feedback in robotic surgery: may visual feedback substitute tactile feedback?

The aim of this study is to demonstrate the hypothesis that the experience of the surgeon is sufficient to partially compensate for the lack of haptic feedback of the robotic system da Vinci Si HD (Intuitive (®) ). Twenty-five international surgeons belonging to different areas of surgical specialization were divided into two groups of investigation: experts and non-experts in the use of da Vinci Platform. This allocation was made on the basis of the following criteria: the number of performed procedures, the number of robotic working days and the number of true console hours.