The hit video console Wii is now being used to help surgeons fine tune their motor skills. Trainees that played for an hour before performing virtual laparoscopic surgery scored 48% higher than those who didn’t use the Wii as a warm-up tool. The researchers who studied this used off-the-shelf programs, but say a surgical training system that is designed for the Wii will be released soon (no date was provided). The program will allow trainees to practice procedures like suturing. The researchers are particularly interested in using the Wii to teach robotic surgery.
Representatives Bill Pascrell Jr. (D–NJ) and Lloyd Doggett (D–TX) introduced a bill on Wednesday to create a national database of artificial hip and knee patients. Despite being the largest consumer of these artificial joints, the United States is a little behind on tracking the devices (registries are already in place in Australia, Sweden, England, etc.). A government-backed registry would allow various stakeholders to see how the devices perform (for the patient and against similar products) and possibly cut down on unnecessary surgeries. Artificial joint manufacturers seem to be in favor of creating a database. In fact, they’ve already been working on their own registry and say that it may be more effective than the one proposed in the bill. Better get moving though—some say that the absence of such a registry has wasted hundreds of millions of dollars.
-From DeviceTalk
