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The SENSE Study: Surgical ENvironment Stress Evaluation

NCT07506330 · Status: ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 6

Last updated 2026-04-07

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Surgical procedures such as total hip and knee arthroplasty require a complex set of physical and cognitive skills, expert execution, and inevitably place a high stress load on the surgeon. While the primary focus of healthcare is typically aimed at the patient, the high physical and mental stress placed on surgeons is of equal significance and should be addressed in order to support surgical teams. Robot-assisted surgery is purported to improve surgical outcomes for both patients and surgeons, particularly by improving surgical efficiency and reducing physical and cognitive load on the surgeon. This stress load typically requires a combination gross and fine motor skills, physical exertion, spatial cognition, executive functioning, inhibitory-control, decision-making, communication and team management. Robotic assistance can reduce some of the cognitive load experienced during these processes, although it is also likely to be replaced by new thought-processes (e.g. numerical reasoning, coordinating screen and patient inputs, etc) that require equally important levels of training and expertise.

Numerous studies have explored the effects of conducting surgery on surgeon stress, but these are largely limited to measuring heart rate variability. A few research groups have implemented fNIRS brain imaging in surgical settings to study the effects of different operating methods on cognitive stress in clinicians, demonstrating the potential of this technology in understanding more about cognitive processes and cognitive load involved in surgery. However, these have not yet been implemented in the context of orthopaedic surgery.

Conditions

  • Stress

Interventions

PROCEDURE

total joint arthroplasty

robotic assisted total joint arthroplasty

PROCEDURE

total joint arthroplasty

conventional total joint arthroplasty

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University College, London

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Flaminia Ronca, PhD · UCL Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
65 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2026-04-01
Primary Completion
2028-03-31
Completion
2028-03-31

Countries

  • United Kingdom

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07506330 on ClinicalTrials.gov