VR in healthcare: 3 developments pushing boundaries in 2017
1. Surgery
One of many promising elements XR brings to the medical field is that of 3D models that surgeons can use to prepare and plan operations. These models are created by merging MRI’s, CAT-scans, and ultrasounds.
2. Medical Training
Six out of ten physicians in the US already use virtual reality to gain expertise in surgical techniques that use endoscopic tools.
Companies such as 3D Systems, Level Ex and Osso VR make it possible for today’s training to happen in a VR operating room.
Training or preparations might be virtual, but the tools used don’t have to be: ImmersiveTouch, for example, offers equipment that provides force feedback.
3. Patient Treatment
Some of the most spectacular breakthrough cases of XR in healthcare have come from the use cases for patient treatment and care. Some of these, like Isobar’s Common Ground VR, are even built for caretakers instead of patients. Common Ground VR simulates what it must be like to have a visual disability, like macular degeneration or glaucoma.
On the front of treatment, the company MindMaze uses VR to treat Parkinson’s patients, amputees, and stroke victims.
Another such company leveraging VR is Brain Power, which helps patients with autism. A demo by Brain Power’s CMO psychiatrist Dr. Arshya Vahbzadeh showed a young child making eye contact with his mother, recognizing her emotions and with that bringing his mother to tears: never before she was able to make eye contact in this way with her child.
If you’re interested in learning more about the developments of XR in healthcare, join me at the VR Days 2017 in Amsterdam on October 25-27. A dedicated track of healthcare VR-specialists will be speaking on the newest developments.
See the full story here: https://thenextweb.com/virtual-reality/2017/10/09/vr-healthcare-3-developments-pushing-boundaries-2017/