Updated: Jun 28
Visualization of the patient's 3D anatomy helps surgeons better prepare for surgery, providing better results for patients.
Currently, conventional images such as MRI and CT or even ultrasound images are used in 2D format to schedule surgery.
Mixed reality, which is the fusion of real and virtual worlds where physical and digital objects coexist and interact in real-time, has already managed to provide holographic 3D images to surgeons.
What is extended reality?
Source: Microsoft
Extended or mixed reality is the merging of real and virtual worlds, where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real-time.
Mixed reality is the possibility to do both, virtual reality and augmented reality in the same app or on the same device.
The user views the real world while manipulating the digital content generated by the device.
How to use mixed reality in surgery planning?
In practice, there are 5 steps to using mixed reality in surgical planning:
2D CT/MRI images are transformed into 3D images.
A specific model for each patient and organ is then created.
Projection of this holographic 3D model through smart glasses with the possibility to interact with each hologram.
The surgeon can use this model to plan surgery, collaborate with other surgeons, and educate residents.
These 3D images can be registered after surgery and kept for the education and training of residents and medical students, or even to inform the patient about his pathology and the surgical act in detail.
The time taken for the first 3 steps generally can range from 15 (Holoeyes) to 60 minutes (Hololens 2).
Mixed reality allows a better understanding of the specific anatomy of each patient and thus improves surgical planning for more precise, safer, and less invasive surgical operations.
Updated: Jun 28
Virtual reality surgery training provides a safe and controlled environment, where surgeons and trainees can improve their skills.
What is virtual reality surgery training?
Virtual reality surgery training is the artificial simulation of life-like scenarios of surgical procedures. It replaces an in-person learning experience with a digital, interactive, and immersive learning experience.
VR surgery training is a 3D simulation of a real surgical simulation scenario.
The 5 Benefits of VR Surgery Training:
Immersive experience with VR surgery training
Realistic practice in a safe environment
Skills acquisition
Repetition
Evaluation of performance
01. Immersive experience
A realistic environment is vital for soft skills and procedural training. PWC found that learners were 3.75 times more emotionally connected with training content when it was delivered within a virtual environment.
02. Realistic practice in a safe environment
In virtual reality, you are free to make mistakes without consequences. This ensures that trainees are better prepared and have more self-confidence when they put what they have learned into practice.
03. Skills acquisition
Immersive training experiences help people learn faster. When learners are fully engaged physically and emotionally, they retain more information, for longer.
04. Repetition
Learners can repeat these virtual tasks, building muscle memory that helps with the retention of learning, which can then be implemented in real life.
For example, healthcare practitioners can gain the chance to learn and practice intricate surgical procedures in a risk-free environment, ultimately leading to better patient care.
05. Evaluation of performance
The digital nature of VR training captures data in real-time. This can provide in-the-moment feedback to trainees, as well as large-scale impact analysis, which quickly provides results to senior surgeons.
Virtual Reality training offers various opportunities to collect data. The duration, sequence, and number of errors are logical data points. However, in a virtual environment, things like tracking are also possible, where viewing direction or hand movements are followed.
You can use these unique data sets to improve your learning, but also to implement improvements in the operating room.
Data can also be analyzed in real time. This allows the VR training to be tailored to individual users.
Think for example of reducing or increasing the complexity or the pace of the training. Giving recommendations to a user based on previous performance is also a possibility.
The 3 Disadvantages of VR Surgery Training
Motion sickness
Lack of real feedback
Lack of simulation of surgical procedures in particular specialties.
Virtual reality offers unique, engaging, and fun ways to train in a safe, but realistic environment.
Using the headset and controllers, trainees look, speak, and move about freely in a 3D virtual setting, interacting with simulated real-world tools, machinery, and other trainees and instructors.
Updated: Jun 28
The 6 Advantages of VR Surgical Simulation
Increased realism and immersion in simulated surgical environments, allowing for more effective training.
Greater flexibility in training, with the ability to simulate a wider range of procedures and conditions.
Enhanced tracking and haptic technology, providing more precise and realistic feedback to the user.
Increased accessibility and affordability of virtual reality technology.
Integration with other educational tools such as augmented reality and artificial intelligence.
The capability of providing a safe environment for the trainee to practice, with no harm to the patient.
These advantages have allowed virtual reality simulation to become a valuable tool for surgical education and training, providing a more effective and efficient way for surgeons to acquire and maintain their skills.
High development costs and corresponding final high prices are usually mentioned as key disadvantages of VR simulators.
Virtual reality lifelike simulations can be reset and repeated without consequence, and dramatically improve procedural competence and confidence, directly translating to better clinical outcomes and overall patient care.
Hybrid simulation, which combines the advantages of a physical 3D printed model with the advantages of a VR simulator, is an especially exciting joint application in the training of VR surgical simulators.