During this semester I will be researching how Virtual Reality is used in medicine. More specifically how it is used to aid Doctors in surgery. Additionally I will be examining how VR is used as a pedagogical tool to teach surgeons procedures before they apply those techniques to a patient. I am also curious to look at how VR might be used in PTSD and for helping patients after their surgery or treatment.
The first article I found was about a pair of twins who were conjoined at the torso in 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2017/07/21/how-doctors-used-virtual-reality-to-save-the-lives-of-conjoined-twin-sisters/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b2bc1535b7b5
The Doctors used "google-like virtual reality to explore a 3D model of the twins heart". They were able to scale the model from the size of a "walnut" to the size of the room. With the use of VR the Doctors are able to examine the tiny intricate details of the two hearts and come up with a solution. A Doctor named Azakie stated that, "the imaging helped us prepare by developing an approach in the event that we came across something we didn't expect".
What I understood from this article is that, with the use of VR, it helped prepare the Doctors and altered their solution. With X-rays you only have a flat 2D image of the organ/area. Whereas with the 3D objects in VR you have more information which is key when it comes to surgery. You are able to explore a full 360 degrees of the object. Additionally when Doctors are performing surgery they are working with a 3D human with 3D organs. Surely 3D imagery is the way forward because Doctors are already so similar with working in 3D?
