Novel laparoscopic home trainer.

Background: Minimum-invasion surgery is performed by means of 2-dimensional visual feedback and without haptic sensitivity. This demands that specialty surgeons adapt to and develop new psychomotor abilities. These abilities can only be learned, developed, and maintained through training. Training technology has been divided into virtual trainers and physical trainers. The former, due to their high cost, have not had the expected academic impact, whereas the latter, although an excellent low-cost alternative, do not offer the visual handling options for refining the required psychomotor abilities. The purpose of this article is to describe the design of a box trainer which can establish a closer relationship with the visual and functional perspectives of optics during surgery, thus establishing better learning protocols.

Methods: A laparoscopic surgery trainer was designed and built based on the shape of the abdominal cavity formed during such surgery. The visual feedback is achieved with a color mini-camera whose position and orientation are controlled by means of a magnetic system with 0 and 45-degree optics options.

Results: A trainer which allows for changes in visual perspective, for developing abilities and skills, with optics other than those of 0 degrees within a geometric space similar to that of the pneumoperitoneum has been designed.

Conclusions: A training system which provides illumination and visual perspective conditions similar to those of real surgery using 0 and 45-degree optics has been designed. The training system is portable and easy to connect for training purposes. Its ports allow for various options that help to improve skills and propose new approaches.