Evaluation of suturing performance in general surgery and ocular microsurgery by combining computer vision-based software and distributed fiber optic strain sensors: a proof-of-concept.

We proved a concept of an objective scoring method (based on various image processing algorithms) for assessment of suturing performance. It was also shown that fiber optic strain sensors are sensitive to the flow of stitching operation on a patch but are less sensitive to the flow of stitching operation on a human cornea. By combining these two methods, we can comprehensively evaluate the suturing performance objectively.