Brain surgery is one of the most complex areas that a medical student can choose to learn. One of the more difficult aspects of training medical students in this area is giving them hands-on experience without risking the patients. Virtual reality (VR) and 360-degree footage is going some ways towards solving this problem.
Alex Alamri, a surgeon at Barts Health NHS trust points out that brain surgery is an intimidating area at the best of times: “Neurosurgery is probably one of the most inaccessible surgical specialities there is, especially from the point of view of the patients and public,” says Alamri. “They can experience a certain element of neurophobia where anything to do with the brain is quite scary.”
Alamri and teamed with his colleague Chris Uff and other specialists at the Royal London Hospital to address this issue, by conducting brain surgery whilst being recorded using 360-degree cameras. A combination of 360-degree cameras in the operating theatre and GoPro cameras attached to the surgeon’s heads allowed for an aneurysm procedure to be captured.
For the , curious, brave and strong of stomach, the experience is available to view below.
VRFocus will return on Monday with another Life in 360°.
via Mint VR