Medical virtual reality (VR) isn’t something that people aren’t aware of, and its implications are massive for the progression and ease of training and virtual exploration of the body without using too many resources, which pretty much made its debut in VRinOR where an operation was broadcast live on an app. Surgical Theatre has ventured into medical VR and has created a montage of demonstrations using the HTC Vive head-mounted display (HMD) and motion controllers to examine tumorous and blocked arteries and various body parts.

In the video featured below Dr Neil Martin is shown using the Vive to look at and move around a virtual graphic of a spinal fracture, clogged artery, and tumorous brain. Using the motion controllers and room-tracking, Dr Martin is able to manipulate how he sees the 3D VR insides so that he can identify various problems that can presumably be documented and operated on. The neurological surgeon rotates, zooms in, and walks towards the problem areas, all while using head-tracking to inspect what he is looking at.

This isn’t the first use of VR that Surgical Theatre has shown as it has a whole programme dedicated to the use of VR within the neurosurgical world, dubbed VR Voyage. Dr Martin made an appearance as the UCLA Health Neurosurgery Chair at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) 2016 which was broadcast on Surgical Theatre’s Facebook where a group of medical professionals can be seen trying out the VR software that is also featured in the video below. It can be seen as a notable step forward in the right direction for medical VR for a large group of surgeons to be able to try out the software, encouraging mainstream adoption further.

VRFocus will continue to report on the latest developments and news within medical VR so make sure to check back.

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