Clarity of surgical field displayed on 3D monitor with local dimming technology during heads-up surgery.

Purpose: To compare the clarity of images displayed on a 3D local dimming technology (LDT) monitor (LMD-XH550MT) to that on a conventional 3D monitor (LMD-X550MT) integrated into the Artevo 800^® system.

Study design: Laboratory investigation METHODS: Six vitreoretinal surgeons evaluated the clarity of the surgical field on photographs displayed simultaneously on 2 monitors during cataract and vitreous surgery by the Artevo 800^® system. The visibility scores were made on a 5-point scale for images recorded during anterior capsulotomy, phacoemulsification, cortex aspiration, core vitrectomy, and peeling an epiretinal membrane or an internal limiting membrane (ILM). The skewness and kurtosis of the images during anterior and posterior segment surgery were evaluated.

Results: The mean visibility scores were significantly higher with the LDT monitor at 4.7±0.1 than with the conventional monitor at 2.9±0.1 (P<0.001). The visibility scores for anterior capsulotomy (P=0.034), phacoemulsification (P=0.036), cortex aspiration (P=0.036), core vitrectomy (P=0.035), peeling of epiretinal membrane (P=0.036), and ILM (P=0.036) were significantly higher with the LDT monitor than with the conventional monitor. The absolute value of skewness during anterior segment surgery was significantly lower with the LDT monitor (0.20±0.05) than with the conventional monitor (-0.44±0.06, P=0.03).

Conclusion: Higher contrast with the LDT monitor was attained by adjusting the backlight brightness according to the brightness of the images, which provided better image clarity for 3D heads-up cataract and vitreous surgery.