INTRODUCTION: Surgical training traditionally adheres to the apprenticeship paradigm, potentially exposing trainees to an increased risk of complications stemming from their limited experience. To mitigate this risk, augmented and virtual reality have been considered, though their effectiveness is difficult to assess. RESEARCH QUESTION: The PASSION study seeks to investigate the improvement of manual dexterity following intensive training with neurosurgical simulators and to discern how surgeons' psychometric characteristics may influence their learning process and surgical performance. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Seventy-two residents were randomized into the simulation group (SG) and control group (CG). The course spanned five days, commencing with assessment of technical skills in basic procedures within a wet-lab setting on day 1. Over the subsequent core days, the SG engaged in simulated procedures, while the CG carried out routine activities in an OR. On day 5, all residents' technical competencies were evaluated. Psychometric measures of all participants were subjected to analysis. RESULTS: The SG demonstrated superior performance (p < 0.0001) in the brain tumour removal compared to the CG. Positive learning curves were evident in the SG across the three days of simulator-based training for all tumour removal tasks (all p-values <0.05). No significant differences were noted in other tasks, and no meaningful correlations were observed between performance and any psychometric parameters. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: A brief and intensive training regimen utilizing 3D virtual reality simulators enhances residents' microsurgical proficiency in brain tumour removal models. Simulators emerge as a viable tool to expedite the learning curve of in-training neurosurgeons.

Besta NeuroSim Center Fondazione 1 R C C S Istituto Neurologico Nazionale C Besta Milano Italy

Department of Clinical Neurosciences Division of Neurosurgery Geneva University Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine and SFITS Geneva Switzerland

Department of Clinical Neurosciences Division of Neurosurgery Geneva University Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine Geneva Switzerland

Department of Life Sciences University of Trieste Trieste Italy

Department of Neurological Surgery Johns Hopkins Medical School Baltimore MD USA

Department of Neurosurgery Fondazione 1 R C C S Istituto Neurologico C Besta Milano Italy

Department of Neurosurgery The National Hospital of Denmark Rigshospitalet Copenhagen Denmark

Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation University of Milano Milano Italy

Department of Psychology Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Milan Italy

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