Dr. Shafi Ahmed, at the Royal London Hospital, became the first doctor in the world to stream a cancer surgical procedure live in virtual reality, with 360-degree cameras. The procedure was done on April 14, starting at 1 p.m. BTS, and it involved removing cancerous tissue from a male patient’s bowel.
Dr. Ahmed, who is a laparoscopic and colorectal surgeon, performed the operation to a live audience, who could see the procedure feet away from the surgeon thanks to the new technology event launched by Medical Realities, co-founded by Ahmed, named Virtual Surgeon.
This pilot program allows providing training methods for medical students, reducing the cost of the training, as well as letting students practice surgeries before even entering an operating room.
The surgery performed on Thursday let the doctor demonstrate how the program works by filming the procedure using two 360-degree cameras, as well as a number of other cameras arranged throughout the surgical suit. The operation was streamed live through the VRinOR app, which it can be downloaded for free from the Oculus store, Google Play and the iOS App Store, and people can watch it using a virtual reality headset like the Google Cardboard and Samsung Gear VR.
But for those who do not have a virtual reality headset, they can still watch the procedure since it will be live streamed on the Medical Realities website and as a 360-degree video on YouTube.
The Medical Realities group wishes to create later on a library of 360-degree view operations that can be used as medical training tools.
Dr. Ahmed said that, from his personal experience, he believes that this virtual reality can help the surgical education and training, especially in developing countries that do not have the same resources and facilities of the Royal London Hospital.
Dr. Ahmed publicly thanked the patient who agreed for his experience to provide an unparalleled learning opportunity.
“I am honored that this patient has given permission for his experience to provide this unparalleled learning opportunity,” said Ahmed.
Source: Fox News