Corewell Health Starts Exploring AR/VR Neurosurgery
According to Corewell HealthTM in Southeast Michigan, patients may use virtual and augmented reality technology to take a tour inside their own brains and assist physicians in planning and performing surgery. Corewell Health is the first and only medical institution in Michigan to employ Surgical Theater’s eXperiential Reality platform for neurosurgery patients.
This state-of-the-art technique allows 2D MRI and CT scan data to be converted into 360° 3D images of a patient’s brain. During consultations, patients and their family may see the brain’s veins and tissue up close by donning a virtual reality (VR) headset and flying over the brain.
Speaking on the technique was Cesar Serrano Almeida, M.D., the medical director of epilepsy surgery at Corewell Health Children’s in Southeast Michigan. According to him, it’s a cutting-edge instrument that enables the medical staff to clearly demonstrate to patients and their families the nuances of the procedures that will be carried out during surgery. Patients are better equipped to understand the surgical plan with the help of this graphic, which helps them feel as comfortable as possible prior to the treatment and make informed medical choices.
Additionally, before a patient even enters the operating room, virtual reality technology helps surgeons create a personalised surgical plan for each patient.
Before this state-of-the-art technology, surgical teams would refer to black-and-white 2D images of the brain, using their imaginations, knowledge, and decades of surgical experience to map out the procedure, according to Fernando Diaz, M.D., PhD, chair of neurological surgery at Corewell Health in Southeast Michigan. They may now put on a headset and explore, he added, often changing their first cut’s approach and location. This distinct perspective minimises issues by facilitating exact accuracy throughout operation.
During a procedure, physicians have the option to upload individual patient images into a surgical microscope to create an augmented reality view. This gives them a kind of X-ray vision and lets them peek around structures they might encounter during surgery.
This approach is now being employed in neurosurgery for the treatment of tumours and epilepsy, but it will soon be extended to spine repair, plastic surgery, and craniofacial reconstruction. According to Dr. Diaz, the possibilities with this technology are really endless.
Augmented reality models have proven beneficial for more than seventy neurosurgical patients at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital in Royal Oak.