Tag

medicine

How VR is Revolutionizing Medicine

The CEO of ConquestVR discusses the role of VR tech in the healthcare industry

Healthcare and technology have always been intertwined. Pacemakers, electrocardiograms (EKGs), CAT scans, and, increasingly, robot-assisted surgery are all hallmarks of clinical care.

The pandemic accelerated the use of telemedicine to diagnose and occasionally treat patients. Increasingly, patients are taking health into their hands through wearables that can track heartbeats, blood pressure, and other vital signs.

There is one more emerging technology that holds significant promise for a variety of diagnoses, treatments, and extended patient care, but it rarely gets the recognition of those other famous technological aids.

Virtual reality (VR), which is now a valuable tool for healthcare professionals to diagnose patients, helps them get into shape, improve their mental health, and treat disorders.

As pioneering hospital Cedars-Sinai puts it on its VR-focused website: “VR is not just for gamers anymore; it is a new type of mind-body medicine.”

VR is increasingly becoming a key tool for healthcare providers as a training and therapeutic aid. In this post, we’ll explore the latter, identifying ways VR is helping healthcare providers deliver excellent care to their patients.

6 Ways VR can Enhance Medical Practise

Here are six healthcare VR solutions and the pipelines to their development:

Physical Health

For many applications, VR is no passive activity. Hi-impact games like Beat Saber and the boxing game Liteboxer VR get the heart racing from the comfort of your own living room. One health institute likened the aerobic activity on Beat Saber to playing tennis.

While getting on a treadmill or going to an exercise class may be a better form of exercise, the reality is that many people choose not to do the latter but could be interested in getting tertiary health benefits while playing games in the comfort of their own homes.

Beyond games that produce health benefits, exercise-specific apps like Supernatural, which grew in popularity during the pandemic, will continue to keep people active at home. In addition, expect more gyms to add VR capabilities to attract technology-obsessed customers.

Meditation/Mental Health

While it costs nothing to meditate, the reality is many people need a helping hand to disconnect. That’s why Calm, Headspace, and other mindfulness and meditation apps are now big business.

Unsurprisingly, they’ve joined the VR community, where first-person perspectives talk about how using VR to meditate was the first time they ever truly could achieve the mindfulness many seek through meditation. Calm Sleep, specifically, has taken off as a way to treat insomnia, which can lead to mood disorders such as depression or anxiety.

Virtual Medicine

A really impressive use of VR can help patients with everything from burn injuries to PTSD to strokes. RelieVRx is one of the treatments that provide digital pain management programs.

In his book “VRx: How Virtual Therapeutics Will Revolutionize Medicine”, Cedars-Sinai doctor Brennan Spiegel details how VR can help patients while avoiding surgeries or painkillers in certain situations. Many of the treatments are essentially games that calm the mind.

Detecting Diseases and Injuries

While there are still many ongoing studies, VR can help healthcare providers diagnose ailments as diverse as Alzheimer’s, social anxiety disorder, vertigo, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and concussions. Using puzzle games, VR can provide clues to illnesses hidden under the surface, reducing diagnosing time and expediting necessary treatment to improve quality of life.

Treating Identity Disorders

When researching for his VRx book, Dr Spiegel was surprised to learn about how a Montreal doctor used VR to help treat schizophrenia, which affects 1 percent of the population. The doctor and his team ask patients to describe how the voice inside their heads looks and sounds, and they can create it in VR.

The doctor can begin communicating in that voice when a patient has a VR headset on, not to necessarily eliminate the voice initially, but attempt to turn it from enemy to something more of a friend.

Improved Telehealth

While Zoom and other video chat platforms help connect doctors and their patients, VR can take it a step further by bringing the patient and doctors closer together, while remaining in different physical locations, as well as recording patient experience logs and capturing and analyzing responses.

Meaningful Results and Outcomes

As VR matures and more healthcare providers demonstrate meaningful results, we anticipate even more use cases will arise. My Co-Founder Dr Sridhar Prathikanti and I have long been proponents of using VR for healthcare as it can help healthcare providers break through to hard-to-reach patients and can cut costs while, in certain situations, improving patient outcomes.

As more patients exert control over their own health, the appeal of continuing treatments from the comfort and privacy of their own homes will only increase. Today’s fun VR game could very well be tomorrow’s groundbreaking treatment.

Quelle:

How VR is Revolutionizing Medicine

24. November 2022 0 comment

Examples

Michigan University, GigXR Build XR Medical Trainer

The university and immersive 3D training firm have teamed up to improve patient care with XR-based solutions

This month, the University of Michigan and GigXR, a global provider of extended reality (XR) healthcare training solutions, partnered to create the ‘XR Procedure Training Suite’ medical training hub.

The training suite uses digital humans as patients, displays informative user interface (UI) pop-ups, and instructs medical students with interactive, lifelike, and immersive procedures.

GigXR’s solution is suitable for medical students and existing physicians looking to refresh their skills and take part in XR learning scenarios to improve their diagnostic, surgical, and communication skills.

Digital learning scenarios include taking vitals, listening to a patient’s lungs, comparing X-rays or CT scans, ultrasound reading, and much more. Instructors can also introduce real-time medical complications such as deteriorating vitals, punctured vessels, vomiting, and bleeding.

Dr Mark Cohen, Professor of Surgery, Pharmacology, and Biomedical Engineering at Michigan Medicine, the University of Michigan, explained:

“Mixed reality places the holographic patient right in front of the learner to visualise critical techniques, such as aspirating an abscess and line placement, while still maintaining the collaborative, hands-on experience of standing around the patient with other learners”

The XR Procedure Training Suite is available on Microsoft’s HoloLens 2, Apple iOS, and Android smartphones. Teachers can easily access training scenarios by scanning a QR code to enter shared immersive environments, allowing quick and easily upscaled training experiences for multiple students.

David King Lassman, CEO at GigXR, added “the University of Michigan’s medical students and resident trainees will only further prepare its elite future medical force.”

HoloHuman, HolopPatient

GigXR provides immersive learning solutions designed to improve the performance of medical students in educational and professional environments across the world.

The XR products on offer include: HoloHuman and HoloPatient.

The Los Angeles-based firm provides its digital learning tools to medical schools and hospitals, which higher education institutions and the US Department of Defense (US DoD) have adopted.

HoloHuman is an immersive learning tool that enables medical students to get up close and personal with a dissectible, highly active, and interactive virtual human body to analyse its inner workings.

Also, GigXR’s HoloPatient training platform uses volumetric video technology to create highly realistic 3D digital humans to improve learner communication and clinical reasoning skills.

Quelle:

Michigan University, GigXR Build XR Medical Trainer

13. Dezember 2021 0 comment

Knowledge Research

The first metaverse experiments? Look to what’s already happening in medicine

KEY POINTS

The metaverse will be an extension of the virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality technology already in use today.
Facebook and Microsoft glasses like Oculus and HoloLens already are being used in key medical technology applications, from design of medical tools to surgical procedures.
„It’s like having a GPS navigator in front of your eyes,“ Timothy Witham, M.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Neurosurgery Spinal Fusion Laboratory, said after conducting the institution’s first-ever augmented reality surgery in June.

The metaverse, the digital world’s Next Big Thing, is touted as the internet domain where animated avatars of our physical selves will be able to virtually do all sorts of interactivities, from shopping to gaming to traveling — someday. Wonks say it could be a decade or longer before the necessary technologies catch up with the hype.

Right now, though, the health-care industry is utilizing some of the essential components that will ultimately comprise the metaverse — virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and artificial intelligence (AI) — as well as the software and hardware to power their applications. For example, medical device companies are using MR to assemble surgical tools and design operating rooms, the World Health Organization (WHO) is using AR and smartphones to train Covid-19 responders, psychiatrists are using VR to treat post-traumatic stress (PTS) among combat soldiers, and medical schools are using VR for surgical training.

Facebook, Oculus and Covid

Since Facebook — now Meta Platforms — acquired Oculus and its VR headset technology in 2014 for $2 billion, numerous health-care applications have been developed. One of the latest was a collaboration with Facebook Reality Labs and Nexus Studios and the WHO Academy. The organization’s R&D incubator designed a mobile learning app for health workers battling Covid-19 worldwide. One of the training courses involves AR to simulate on a smartphone the proper techniques and sequence to put on and remove person protective equipment. With content available in seven languages, the app is built around the needs expressed by 22,000 global health workers surveyed by the WHO last year.

Oculus technology is used at UConn Health, the University of Connecticut’s medical center in Farmington, Connecticut, to train orthopedic surgery residents. Educators have teamed with PrecisionOS, a Canadian medical software company that offers VR training and educational modules in orthopedics. Donning Oculus Quest headsets, the residents can visualize in 3-D performing a range of surgical procedures, such as putting a pin in a broken bone. Because the procedure is performed virtually, the system allows the students to make mistakes and receive feedback from faculty to incorporate on their next try.

Meanwhile, as the metaverse remains under construction, „we see great opportunity to continue the work Meta already does in supporting health efforts,“ a Meta spokesperson said. „As Meta’s experiences, apps and services evolve, you can expect health strategy to play a role, but it’s far too soon to say how that might intersect with third-party technologies and providers.“

When Microsoft introduced its HoloLens AR smart glasses in 2016 for commercial development, early adopters included Stryker, the medical technology company in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In 2017, it began harnessing the AR device to improve processes for designing operating rooms for hospitals and surgery centers. Because ORs are shared by different surgical services — from general surgery to orthopedic, cardiac and others — lighting, equipment and surgical tools vary depending on the procedure.

Recognizing the opportunity the HoloLens 2 provided in evolving OR design from 2D to 3D, Stryker engineers are able to design shared ORs with the use of holograms. The MR experience visualizes all of the people, equipment and setups without requiring physical objects or people to be present.

Zimmer Biomet, a Warsaw, Indiana-based medical device company, recently unveiled its OptiVu Mixed Reality Solutions platform, which employs HoloLens devices and three applications — one using MR in manufacturing surgical tools, another that collects and stores data to track patient progress before and after surgery, and a third that allows clinicians to share a MR experience with patients ahead of a procedure.

„We are currently using the HoloLens in a pilot fashion with remote assist in the U.S., EMEA and Australia,“ a Zimmer Biomet spokesperson said. The technology has been used for remote case coverage and training programs, and the company is developing software applications on the HoloLens as part of data solutions focused on pre- and post-procedures, the spokesperson said.

Microsoft’s holographic vision of the future

In March, Microsoft showcased Mesh, a MR platform powered by its Azure cloud service, which allows people in different physical locations to join 3-D holographic experiences on various devices, including HoloLens 2, a range of VR headsets, smartphones, tablets and PCs. In a blog post, the company imagined avatars of medical students, learning about human anatomy, gathered around a holographic model and peeling back muscles to see what’s underneath.

Microsoft sees many opportunities for its MR tech, and in March secured a $20 billion contract with the U.S. military for its use with soldiers.

In real-world applications of AR medical technology, Johns Hopkins neurosurgeons performed the institution’s first-ever AR surgeries on living patients in June. During the initial procedure, physicians placed six screws in a patient’s spine during a spinal fusion. Two days later, a separate team of surgeons removed a cancerous tumor from the spine of a patient. Both teams donned headsets made by Augmedics, an Israeli firm, equipped with a see-through eye display that projects images of a patient’s internal anatomy, such as bones and other tissue, based on CT scans. „It’s like having a GPS navigator in front of your eyes,“ said Timothy Witham, M.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Neurosurgery Spinal Fusion Laboratory.

At the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, instructors at the Gordon Center for Simulation and Innovation in Medical Education utilize AR, VR and MR to train emergency first-responders to treat trauma patients, including those who have had a stroke, heart attack or gunshot wound. Students practice life-saving cardiac procedures on Harvey, a life-like mannequin that realistically simulates nearly any cardiac disease. Wearing VR headsets, students can „see“ the underlying anatomy which is graphically exposed on Harvey.

„In the digital environment, we’re not bound by physical objects,“ said Barry Issenberg, MD, Professor of Medicine and director of the Gordon Center. Before developing the virtual technology curriculum, he said, students had to physically be on the scene and train on actual trauma patients. „Now we can guarantee that all learners have the same virtual experience, regardless of their geographic location.“

Since it was founded in 1999, the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) has developed VR, AI and other technologies to address a variety of medical and mental health conditions. „When I first got involved, the technology was Stone Age,“ said Albert „Skip“ Rizzo, a psychologist and director for medical virtual reality at ICT, recalling his tinkering with an Apple IIe and a Game Boy handheld console. Today he uses VR and AR headsets from Oculus, HPand Magic Leap.

Rizzo has helped create a VR exposure therapy, called Bravemind, aimed at providing relief from PTS, particularly among veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. During exposure therapy, a patient, guided by a trained therapist, confronts his or her trauma memories through simulations of their experiences. Wearing a headset, the patient can be immersed in several different virtual scenarios, including a Middle-Eastern themed city and desert road environments.

„Patients use a keyboard to simulate people, insurgents, explosions, even smells and vibrations,“ Rizzo said. And rather than relying exclusively on imagining a particular scenario, a patient can experience it in a safe, virtual world as an alternative to traditional talk therapy. The evidence-based Bravemind therapy is now available at more than a dozen Veterans Administration hospitals, where it has been shown to produce a meaningful reduction in PTS symptoms. Additional randomized controlled studies are ongoing.

As Big Tech continues to build out the metaverse, alongside software and hardware companies, academia and other R&D partners, the health-care industry remains a real-life proving ground. „While the metaverse is still in its infancy, it holds tremendous potential for the transformation and improvement of health care,“ wrote Paulo Pinheiro, head of software at Cambridge, U.K.-based Sagentia Innovation on the advisory firm’s website. „It will be fascinating to watch the situation unfold.“

Quelle:

https://www-cnbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/12/04/the-first-metaverse-experiments-look-to-whats-happening-in-medicine.html

Foto:

Surgeon Shafi Ahmed poses for a photograph wearing a Microsoft HoloLens headset inside his operating theater at the Royal London Hospital on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2018.Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

10. Dezember 2021 0 comment

Examples

These VR Applications Can Actually Save Lives

Virtual reality applications help save lives.

No longer just for immersive entertainment, virtual reality applications now help save lives. VR simulation technology enables better medical training, more effective health therapies, and enhanced disaster management training.

Improving Performance in Medicine Through Clinical Skills Training

Different medical groups are now using virtual reality applications for clinical skills training. Residents train using simulation tools to determine their level of competence and to develop essential skills. This enables them to be more effective when performing interventions on actual patients.

CyberAnatomy Med VR is one app specifically used for clinical training purposes. The app enables students to visualize and interact with anatomy. It includes interactive tools for virtually dissecting the human body. zSpace is a similar app that enables exploration of the human body. However, this app enables students to collaborate with others at the same time.

VR technology also improves surgeons’ performances and prevents complications. RASimAs, SimSurgery, and VR Training Simulator are among the VR apps that help prepare doctors before they go inside the operating room. These surgery simulators improve the speed, mobility, and efficiency of doctors.

Transforming Healthcare Through Better Therapies

Although there has been no conclusive research yet, many believe that VR is more effective in managing pain and accelerating recovery. Thus, healthcare professionals now widely use it in mental health therapy, motor skills rehabilitation, physical therapy, and occupational therapy.

Medical games such as SnowWorld distract patients during painful procedures. The SnowWorld app was specifically designed for burn patients but can be used for pain management in general. The patient is immersed in a snow world with relaxing music to help relieve their pain.

Bravemind is another VR app used in healthcare. It enables patients to confront traumatic experiences under a therapist’s supervision. Bravely facing this immersive virtual environment can help them recover from PTSD.

Enhancing Crisis Management Training Programs

Aside from improving healthcare and medicine, VR technology also enhances disaster preparedness and crisis management. It provides a better alternative to real-life drills, tabletop exercises, and classroom-based instructive teaching.

For incident command officers, the Hydra Immersive Simulation System provides training for critical incidents such as rampant shooting, abductions, and terrorist attacks. This immersive simulation training develops decision-making skills critical to police officers and first responders.

Another virtual training platform for first responders is EDGE (Enhanced Dynamic Geo-Social Environment). It allows emergency responders to have a feel of actual crisis situations and prepares them for multiple scenarios. It also enables them to react to dynamic situations without endangering themselves or others.

Preparedness Saves Lives

By helping people prepare for potential disasters and multiple scenarios, VR technology helps save many lives. Immersion in tactical, strategic, or narrative environments helps emergency responders learn better. As they experience various potential scenarios, they can prepare and plan for a coordinated response to crisis situations.

Moreover, using VR is a more cost-effective and safer way to train for disasters. There is no need to spend thousands of dollars setting up equipment for physical drills. Virtual reality applications cost much less than building real-life mock-ups of potential disasters. It is also easier to recreate these disasters digitally than in real life.

Indeed, virtual reality applications have come a long way from mere interactive gaming. They now make our lives better and safer. With more advancements in technology, we can expect to see more VR applications in the field of medicine, healthcare, crisis management, and other industries.

Quelle:

https://www.vrroom.buzz/vr-news/tech/these-vr-applications-can-actually-save-lives

9. Juli 2020 0 comment

Examples

Yale School of Medicine uses Sharecare technology to integrate 3D virtual lab training into Physician Assistant Online program curriculum

Sharecare, the digital health company that helps people manage all their health in one place, today announced a licensing agreement with Yale School of Medicine (YSM), through which the school’s Physician Assistant Online program (PA Online) is supplementing its curriculum with resources from Sharecare for virtual training and instruction. Sharecare YOU, which allows users to visualize how the body works and explore organs and systems in an anatomically accurate 3D environment, is first being utilized by YSM’s PA Online program in a Summer 2019 cardiology course. Once the course is completed, YSM will evaluate student engagement, information retention and satisfaction levels among both students and faculty for future applications in medical education settings.

YSM’s PA Online program helps prepare physician assistants (PAs) for licensure with Yalefaculty-led online classes and coursework, as well as in-person clinical rotations and immersion experiences on campus. With Sharecare YOU integrated into the program curriculum and customized to specifications based on the online course format, student population, clinical subject matter and advanced nature of study, the class experience includes 3D mini-lectures, supplemental courses, lecture-recording tools, interactive quizzing and the ability to conduct experiments in a virtual lab. Further, Sharecare YOU supplements the traditional cadaver lab experience and helps students learn about organ functions, as well as the effects of diseases and treatments.

„Our new licensing agreement with Yale aligns perfectly with Sharecare’s mission to help each person build a longer, better life by enabling health transformation at the individual, organizational and community level,“ said Laura Klein, president of consumer solutions at Sharecare. „By enhancing Yale School of Medicine’s PA Online curriculum with Sharecare’s cutting-edge medical education tools, we are empowering a new generation of practitioners to deliver better care to their patients, which we hope will positively impact the health of populations for generations to come.“

Designed to help people, workforces and communities optimize their wellbeing, Sharecare integrates fragmented point solutions to foster a holistic and frictionless user-friendly experience that engages people in all aspects of their health. A key piece of that overall strategy, Sharecare YOU is also available as a virtual reality (VR) app that provides immersive learning experiences in classrooms and medical education programs across the globe.

For more information about the Sharecare YOU platform, including versions for PC and Mac, call (941) 893-4400 or send an inquiry to VRinfo@sharecare.com. Demo versions of the VR app are also available for free in the Steam, Viveport and Oculus app stores.

About Sharecare
Sharecare is the digital health company that helps people manage all their health in one place. The Sharecare platform provides each person – no matter where they are in their health journey – with a comprehensive and personalized health profile where they can dynamically and easily connect to the information, evidence-based programs and health professionals they need to live their healthiest, happiest and most productive lives. In addition to providing individual consumers with direct access to award-winning and innovative frictionless technologies, scientifically validated clinical protocols and best-in-class coaching tools, Sharecare also helps providers, employers and health plans effectively scale outcomes-based health and wellness solutions across their entire populations. To learn more, visit www.sharecare.com.

Quelle:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/yale-school-medicine-uses-sharecare-134500712.html

Foto: Yale School of Medicine (YSM) is integrating Sharecare YOU into its Physician Assistant Online program to enhance the clinical education experience for students. In addition to the desktop version that will be utilized by YSM, Sharecare YOU is available as a virtual reality (VR) app that provides immersive learning experiences in classrooms and medical education programs across the globe.

9. August 2019 0 comment

Examples

How Virtual Reality Is Transforming the Future of Surgical Training

Virtual reality is transforming surgical training, empowering young medical professionals to hone their skills through haptic-enabled simulations.

FundamentalVR is a pioneer in immersive and simulation-based learning for the medical community. They have recently partnered with a haptics company HaptX to create a simulated risk-free environment where surgeons can hone their skills using virtual reality technology. Adding haptics to training simulations allows surgeons and medical professionals to navigate artificial three-dimensional spaces with the same visuals, sensations, and sounds experienced in a real-world medical procedure.

See Also: How Virtual Reality Changes Physical Therapy

The New Era of Surgical Training

Haptic technology pertains to the use of tactile feedback in recreating the sense of touch in immersive experiences. FundamentalVR has pushed the limits of their surgical training platform, Fundamental Surgery, by making it compatible with the HaptX Gloves.

Virtual reality is on the rise. And now, its applications are becoming suitable for various purposes such as surgical training. Haptic-based VR simulations can make a profound impact on the quality of the training, the skills of the surgeons, as well as the costs of teaching procedures. Unlike traditional practices, immersive surgical training delivers guided lessons without any need for supervision. Surgical residents can practice as many times as they like until they are confident enough to perform the procedure successfully.

These virtual reality solutions can help medical institutions reduce healthcare costs. Schools around the world still use human cadavers to teach young students. This practice can be costly. By using training simulation instead of cadavers, medical institutions can cut costs and provide enough training to residents.

See Also: 3D Tooth Atlas 9: The Virtual Reality Training System for Dentists of the Future

Not to mention, VR training procedures can lessen the risks of medical errors. Through Fundamental Surgery, novice surgeons can hone their skills by learning new procedures or practicing ones that they seldom perform.

The State of Haptic-Enabled Virtual Reality Training Simulations

Launched in August of 2018, Fundamental Surgery is the first of its kind. It’s different from other platforms on the market because it supports any laptop model and virtual reality headset. It’s now also compatible with any haptic device. The company put the SaaS platform’s capabilities on display at the annual gathering of the American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS). There, they showcased Fundamental Surgery with HaptX gloves, as well as a 3DS haptic arm.

Today, haptic technology in the medical setting usually involves a tool like a glove or a stylus which applies vibrations, forces, and all sorts of motions. These tools give users more tactile experiences in the training simulation. Fundamental Surgery’s Surgical Haptic Intelligence Engine enables it to mimic tactile sensation. They considered a wide range of medical tools and numerous tissue variants to come up with realistic simulations.

Microfluidic technology powers HaptX Gloves, along with 130 sensors that press into the user’s skin. Together, these technologies mimic the sensation of touching a physical object. Meanwhile, its force feedback exoskeleton delivers as much as four pounds of pressure into each finger. This augments the user’s perception of rigidity and shape in the artificial space.

Several medical institutions across the globe are taking advantage of Fundamental Surgery. For example, in the US, the University of California and Mayo Clinic are using such technology to train young surgeons. Other institutions that leverage this include Sana Kliniken AG in Germany and the University College London Hospitals in the United Kingdom. As of now, Fundamental Surgery mainly supports orthopedic surgical fields. That means surgeons can practice procedures like Spinal Pedicle Screw and Total Hip Arthroplasty on the SaaS platform. With the rise of virtual reality in healthcare, we can expect FundamentalVR to add more procedures in the near future.

Quelle:

How Virtual Reality Is Transforming the Future of Surgical Training

30. April 2019 0 comment