Welcome back! In a world's first, VR was used to prepare surgeons for a complex surgery to separate a pair of young conjoined twins in Brazil. The two doctors, one from London and one from Rio, trained for months leading up to the surgery using custom designed software providing them with a virtual reality operating room. The surgeons used real CT and MRI images to reconstruct the patients in their virtual reality training environment, allowing them to practice and train for the surgery without putting the patients at risk.
PA Media reported that the surgeons trained on custom software (unknown developer at this time) while in their home countries, meaning it was a networked application. Without details on the hardware that was used, it is difficult to ascertain the level of networked interaction, but with the current state of technology it is safe to assume both surgeons had fully tracked hands at a minimum if not a full-body avatar.
The next item that was fascinating to hear about was the aspect of modeling their VR patient from real-world data (CT/MRI images). Doctors have been using complex scanners to understand their patients for several decades, but recent advancements in technology allow them to actually visualize that 3D data in new and exciting ways. Speaking about the VR aspect of the surgery, one surgeon told PA Media: "It's just wonderful, it's really great to see the anatomy and do the surgery before you actually put the children at any risk."
Using VR to train for a complex scenario isn't limited to the medical industry. Contact a member of D3D today to find out how your organization can benefit from custom VR content. For more details around the surgery, the original article can be found here.