For the first time in the history of medicine, on 14 April 2016 Shafi Ahmed cancer surgeon performed an operation using a virtual reality camera at the Royal London hospital. Everyone could participate in the operation in real time through the Medical Realities website and the VR in OR app. No matter whether a promising medical student from Cape Town, an interested journalist from Seattle or a worried relative, everyone could follow through two 360 degree cameras how the surgeon removed a cancerous tissue from the bowel of the patient.
Spiegel says that not only can the hospital experience be improved with medical VR, but the costs of care may also be reduced. By reducing stress and pain, the length of the patient’s stay in the ward or the amount of resources utilized can both be decreased.
A similar project called Farmoo was developed by enthusiastic university students. As its main creator, Henry Lo says “it is intended to help teen cancer patients get distracted during chemotherapy treatments so that they can focus more on the activities inside the game, rather than the treatment itself.
Brennan Spiegel and his team at the Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles introduced VR worlds to their patients to help them release stress and reduce pain. With the special goggles, they could escape the four walls of the hospital and visit amazing landscapes in Iceland, participate in the work of an art studio or swim together with whales in the deep blue ocean.
The experience in a hospital is even more stressful and mentally burdening for small children who miss their parents, their best buddies, their favourite blanket and generally, the soothing environment called home.
Now, a Dutch company made their dreams possible. Through a smartphone and virtual glasses, VisitU makes live contact possible with a 360 degree camera at the patient’s home, school or special occasions such as a birthday celebration or a football game. Though hospitalized, young patients can relax and still enjoy their lives.
Through Medical VR, it might become easier for relatives and friends to maintain relations with their loved once in hospital care since the lengthy drives to the hospital could be spared, making room for more quality time spent together.
Embodied Labs created “We Are Alfred” by using VR technology to show young medical students what ageing means. Everyone can be the hypothetical Alfred for 7 minutes, and experience how it feels like to live as a 74 year-old man with audio-visual impairments.
The developers’ ultimate goal is to solve the disconnection between young doctors and elderly patients due to their huge age difference. Fostering empathy between caretakers and their charges is much easier when physicians can see things from the patients’ perspectives. 4 year-old man with audio-visual impairments.
For patients who survived a stroke or traumatic brain injury, time is of the essence. The earlier they start rehabilitation, the better chances they have for successfully regaining lost functions.
Mind Motion Pro, produced by the Swiss Mind-maze allows patients to “practice” how to lift their arms or move their fingers with the help of virtual reality. Although they might not carry out the actual movement, the app enhances attention, motivation and engagement with visual and auditory feedback. The app makes the practice of repetitive movements fun for patients. The resulting mental effort helps their traumatized nervous systems to recover much faster than lying helplessly in bed.
http://medicalfuturist.com/category/blog/virtual-reality/