The McPherson Eye Research Institute is proud to announce the 2022 Expanding Our Vision recipient.
Professor Yin Li, Dept. of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, will receive $10,000 from the McPherson ERI towards his research.
Towards Automated Surgical Skill Assessment for Cataract Surgical Training
Abstract: Over 25 million people in US are affected by cataracts—a clouding of the lens of the eye often related to aging. Cataracts are among the leading causes of low vision and blindness, and can be treated by surgically by replacing the natural lens of the eye with an artificial intraocular lens. Cataract surgery is a common procedure with approximately 4 million cases and a growth rate of 3-4% per year in the US. While cataract surgery is considered safe, complications such as infection, dislocated intraocular lens, and retinal detachment can occur and result in loss of vision. Surgical training is crucial to reduce this risk. A critical component in training is to assess the trainees’ surgical skill levels and provide feedback based on their surgical practice. Current assessment tools reply on the observation and feedback from expert surgeons, and thus is time consuming, highly variable, and difficult to implement. This project will develop and evaluate video-based, automated surgical skill assessment tools for cataract surgery using computer vision and machine learning. This proposed research will enable reliable quantification of surgical skills, reduce the time needed for senior surgeons in surgical training, and provide timely feedback to trainees, thereby improving surgical training and overall complication rates.