Digital recording of surgical procedures using a personal computer

To develop a system for recording surgical procedure digitally using a personal computer with real-time compression of the video signal.We built the system around a modern personal computer with a large hard disk to allow recording of over 250 h of continuous surgery. Digital capture from the camera was achieved using a standard external analogue-digital converter linked to the computer via a firewire cable. The software for capturing, compressing and editing movie files were obtained free of charge from the internet. The optimal settings for the software was determined.We have successfully used this system to record over 100 major and minor hysteroscopic, laparoscopic, vaginal and open gynaecological. Despite compression, the quality of the movies was judged to be very good and still images excellent. The recordings could be integrated in to standard presentation. Still pictures could be printed to provide hard copies for patients and medical notes, and movies burnt on to CDs or DVDs.A digital recording system built around a standard personal computer is relatively cheap, versatile and has a huge capacity to record surgical procedures.