Virtual Reality in Vascular Ring Education: A Novel 2D-3D Comparison Study

Background: Virtual reality (VR) is immersive and three-dimensional, and thus has been hypothesized to be superior for spatial anatomical learning compared to two-dimensional approaches. This pilot study was designed to compare 2D and 3D vascular ring curricula both delivered with VR headsets in their efficacy for spatial anatomical learning.

Methods: A vascular ring lecture was constructed using a combination of idealized embryonic models and segmented patient chest CT datasets to explain various types of vascular rings. A 25-minute lecture was developed and recorded both in 2D and 3D/VR formats. Participants were then recruited and randomly assigned in a participant-blinded manner to receive either the 2D or 3D lecture. Participants completed pre- and post-surveys which assessed basic demographics, prior VR exposure, subjective self-assessment and objective understanding of vascular ring knowledge (15 total objective questions including 8 assessing spatial anatomy learning).

Results: Sixty-four participants were recruited to the study with no statistically different demographics between the 2D and 3D study groups. Subjective self-assessment and objective assessments showed significant improvement in both groups (p < 0.01). Participants in the 3D group had a greater increase in their reported comfort in understanding vascular ring anatomy (p- value 0.03). However, the 3D group objective assessment total and spatial score improvements were not statistically greater than the 2D group (p- values 0.14 and 0.18).

Conclusion: Our novel 2D-3D anatomy educational comparison study has promising preliminary results showing that learners improve their knowledge of vascular ring anatomy through both 2D and 3D teaching. The 3D/VR teaching method has a trend towards increased improvement. We are planning novel VR-based assessment techniques to further analyze spatial understanding.