The augmented reality wearable technology was used to assist with the complex medical procedure.
Despite the fact that Google Glass has been falling out of the spotlight over the last while, the device has managed to make headlines once again as cardiologists have now used the wearable technology to assist them in completing a surgical procedure to unblock the coronary artery of a 49 year old male patient.
A custom app was created for the purposes of this procedure and the augmented reality headset displayed the 3D assistance.
The Google Glass app was created to offer the surgeons a 3 reconstruction of the artery, which they could view through the headset throughout the length of the procedure. This made it possible for the physicians to more effectively guide a catheter to the area with the clog. Using a catheter was used to send a stent or balloon into a clogged area is a common method of treating a blocked coronary artery. It is a procedure that is called a catheter-based percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). That said, there are risks involved with this type of surgery, as one of the most challenging components of the process is to image the artery.
Google Glass made it easier for the doctors to use imaging and to view it in a way that could help to guide them.
Computed tomography angiography (CTA) imaging techniques were used to view the patient’s specific blockage. The augmented reality headset then used the custom mobile app to display the patient’s own unique artery and blockage within the field of vision of the physician. This way, the doctor could visualize the patient’s own coronary vessel as the catheter was used for unblocking the area. In this specific surgery, there were two drug-eluting stents that were successfully implanted into the patient.
Using this strategy with Google Glass, it means that the same CTA images become much more usable and practical for doctors while they conduct the procedure as they can view them at the same time that they are inserting the catheter in order to provide them with continual customized guidance.
A new tech from Purdue U. and Indiana University School of Medicine will guide docs with AR instructions.
Scientists working together at Purdue University and the Indiana University School of Medicine have come up with a new augmented reality based technology designed to assist military surgeons to complete vital procedures on the battlefield.
The tech will offer them guidance through both visual and audio assistance from remote specialists.
The idea is to use more than just verbal instructions when these military surgeons are coping with challenging trauma cases. While there are already systems in existence that give physicians located far away the ability to mark up video that is sent to him or her from a surgeon who is already working on a patient, there are some drawbacks to the current method. For example, though the video is from the perspective of the surgeon actually conducting the procedure, the notes from the assisting remote surgeon are displayed on a monitor nearby. This requires the surgeon to continually look away from the patient and the screen where the instructions are being shown. This new augmented reality based technology could change that.
The System for Telementoring with Augmented Reality (STAR) displays the information before the surgeon’s eyes.
It provides more than notes made on a video screen. Instead, it offers a more natural way of sharing information between two doctors who are on different parts of the planet. This allows them to use the overlay of AR technology to display notes or indicate specific positions on the patient that indicates particular points on the anatomy so that the surgeon is seeing it over his or her reality instead of on a screen.
This augmented reality technology offers a few different visual recognition algorithms in order to make sure that the text remains stable above the applicable locations, even if the surgeon changes his or her view away from the field of view where the text applies. This system uses transparent overlay on top of the working field so that a remote surgeon can point things out and add text right in front of the surgeon’s eyes without ever requiring the surgeon to look away from what he or she is doing.
Computed tomography angiography (CTA) imaging techniques were used to view the patient’s specific blockage. The augmented reality headset then used the custom mobile app to display the patient’s own unique artery and blockage within the field of vision of the physician. This way, the doctor could visualize the patient’s own coronary vessel as the catheter was used for unblocking the area. In this specific surgery, there were two drug-eluting stents that were successfully implanted into the patient.