Surgeons who play videogames before going into theatre are less likely to make potentially lethal errors, research has found. A 20-minute blast on games like Super Monkey Ball immediately prior to surgery made the sawbones quicker too.

The study by the Beth Israel Medical Centre in New York found 303 surgeons on a training course were better at stitching up internal wounds as a result of gaming, Reuters reports.

The research lead investigator compared the procedure to "trying to tie your shoe laces with three-foot-long chopsticks while watching on a TV screen".

Videogaming surgeons completed the task on average 11 seconds sooner. ®

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