Feasibility evaluation of an action camera for video documentation in open abdominal surgery

Intraoperative video recording in abdominal surgery has become indispensable for educational and scientific reasons. Documentation of open surgery is still technically demanding. Since no perfect camera system exists, modern action cameras may offer a solution to this problem.

A head-mounted ActionPro X7 camera (ACTIONPRO, Roethenbach, Germany) was tested in 50 open abdominal surgeries.

Full HD (High Definition) videos were of excellent quality and allowed a first-person view of the operation field. Short battery life of approximately 80 min, wearing discomfort, and recurrent connectivity problems were significant limitations.

Modern action cameras can provide high-quality videos in open abdominal surgery. They offer an inexpensive and widely available alternative for surgical video documentation.

(1) First-time usage of an action camera in major open abdominal surgery. (2) Handsfree filming allowing easy documentation of versatile technical approaches and special intraoperative observations. (3) High-quality footage filmed with a cost-effective camera.