VR in medicine in 1999

Benefits of Virtual reality in medicine. 

In this article they made a list of the benefits of Virtual reality in Medicine. Virtual reality is a computer generated simulation of three-dimensional images or environment. One key advantage of using VR instead of a 2D image is that it provides "clinicians with a more naturalistic view of a patient's anatomy." Here are a few other benefits they stated:

• Virtual reality technology plays an important role in telemedicine from remote diagnosis to complex tele interventions. 
• Computerized three dimensional atlases of human anatomy, physiology, and pathology are about to revolutionize the teaching of these subjects.
• Several virtual reality systems have been developed and tested for the physical or mental rehabilitation of patients and for supporting mental health therapy.
• Training for medical students.

The technology

"Appropriate algorithms to calculate the visual appearance of the virtual scene to be visualised (rendering); and physical devices (in most cases graphical displays) to present the resulting images to the user."
"Tactile and haptic (force) sensing is an important source of information when interacting with the virtual environment. Accordingly, these forces have to be transmitted to the user if immersion in a virtual scene with a reasonable level of realism is desired"

Diagnostics 

"Virtual endoscopic procedures could replace real endoscopic investigations in the foreseeable future in some areas of diagnosis."

Preoperative planning
"The use of computer models to plan and optimize surgical interventions preoperatively is part of daily clinical practice."
" The planning of a surgery on a computer screen, trying out different surgical approaches with realistic prediction of the outcome (for example, postoperative appearance of the patient), and planning individualised custom made implants have substantial impact on the success and safety of the intervention."

Education and training systems

"Systems based on virtual reality offer a unique opportunity for the training of professional surgical skills." 
"The rapid adoption of minimally invasive surgical techniques is one of the major driving forces in the development of surgical trainers. The extreme limitations placed on visual and manipulative freedom, including the loss of tactile feedback and the unusual hand-eye coordination, makes extensive specialised training for such interventions necessary."


This article was posted on the 13th Nov, 1999.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1129082/


My thoughts and conclusion
One important fact that appears in every VR  and medicine articles is that VR provides more information for Doctors and Medical students. In this article is talks about using VR to provide a more "natural image" for the Clinicians. We live in a 3D world and Doctors perform surgery on a 3D human. Therefore wouldn't it be easier for doctors to examine 3D images of the areas that are affected?

Virtual Reality used in medicine

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?