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Stretched out on a table in a big, vibrant operating theatre on the Royal London hospital, a patient is awaiting Shafi Ahmed’s first incision in a procedure that may remove cancerous tissue from his bowel. Around the table a team wearing blue scrubs and face masks are gathered, exchanging the odd word, while cumbersome machines bearing bundles of wires hum gently within the background. Everyone is targeted on the duty in hand, on the point of play their part. Except me.
Scrubless and without a lot as a scalpel to pass to the surgeon, I’m a mere spectator to this intricate event, a bystander gazing across the room in fascination while others labour at a life-changing task.
Not that the surgeons are bothered. Because although I feel like I’m standing at the sting of the operating table, in point of fact I’m sitting in my office chair.
On Thursday afternoon I witnessed the world’s first operation to be streamed live in 360-degree video, allowing medical students, trainee surgeons and curious members of the general public like me to immerse themselves within the procedure in real time via the Medical Realities website. A one-minute delay was incorporated into the printed in case of any complications within the surgery.
A cancer surgeon at Barts Health NHS Trust, Ahmed said before the operation that he believed the approach could make healthcare more equitable, improving the training of surgeons worldwide. With web connections becoming higher, smartphones getting cheaper and only a pair of lenses and a few cardboard needed to make a virtual reality headset, the prices, he said, paled compared to the expense of scholars travelling abroad to coach. “It is definitely quite cost-effective.”
Shot using two 360-degree cameras and numerous lenses arranged across the theatre, the operation might be viewed through the “VR in OR” app, using a virtual reality headset that will be paired with a smartphone. Those who didn’t have a headset could watch the feed live online.
It takes some time to get the app up and running so while I wait for the VR experience to begin I watch the procedure begin via the web site.
The lights are dimmed and, wielding an intimidating device, Ahmed begins to remove a hernia. “This is named a harmonic scalpel,” he says as he gets to work.
A hush descends, punctured only by beeping. Peering down I spot some odd-looking scissors I hope nobody will ever use on me. Two large screens on either side of the table show views from the camera contained in the patient – a tool that resembles an infinite knitting needle. The team prepares to tackle the cancer. “OK let’s take a look, here we go,” says Ahmed.
Fortunately the app boots up. And I’m within the room too. “There is a tumour just here,” says Ahmed. “This is what cancer looks like in point of fact.”
While videos showcasing surgical procedures have been around for years, Ahmed believes the brand new approach is greater than a mere gimmick. The technology, he has argued, brings a useful latest feature to education, allowing viewers to focus not only on what the surgeon is doing, but in addition on what other members of the team are as much as: “There might be noise, there might be the immersive factor – so that may add different layers of educational value.”
George Hanna, professor of surgical sciences at Imperial College, London was cautiously optimistic concerning the advantages of the approach. “If this technology allows the transfer of data and skills [over] a wider range and in a better way that might be very helpful,” he said.
But he was quick so as to add that, compared with existing approaches for sharing scenes from the operating theatre, the brand new technology offered more of an upgrade than a revolution. “It is a great video and wide broadcast with interactive [opportunities],” he said, stressing that the operation itself was real reasonably than virtual.
Back within the virtual world, there’s a slight hitch – the standard of the video on my phone is sweet, but not ok to see the video screen clearly. It looks like they’re fishing about in a swamp of slimy undercooked sausages: I think a medical student would glean reasonably more. Frustratingly, 360-degree video is just that – you possibly can go searching the room in every direction, but you possibly can’t move for a greater view.
The procedure continues. Despite my loathing of all medical TV dramas, I’m hooked. Suddenly the whole theatre goes dark, aside from a highlight. Someone is making an incision. They pull out a pink, fleshy mass. “Scissors,” says someone. A bundle that I assume is the tumour is removed and dropped right into a bowl. The operation has been successful.
It was not the primary time Ahmed had led the best way in embracing modern technology in healthcare. He co-founded the healthcare company Medical Realities, which streamed the operation in partnership with Barts Health and 360-degree video experts Mativision.
Ahmed said he believes virtual reality, augmented reality and games could all play a job in training medical students. Two years ago he streamed a live operation using the “augmented reality” system, Google Glass, allowing viewers to see the procedure from a surgeon’s viewpoint.
But the brand new 360-degree video, Ahmed said, offered a brand new approach, allowing users to see beyond what the surgeon was . Among future developments he has envisaged, Ahmed said he was keen so as to add graphics to the raw footage to supply additional information throughout the operation, in addition to taking questions from those viewing the procedure.
“[During an operation] I’m teaching people, talking to them, there’s communication happening – so it’ll be just an extension of that,” he said. In three to 5 years, haptic devices – which work off physical contact between the user and computer – could boost the experience further: “Companies are really working on various gloves or bodysuits and devices in order that it might probably replicate touch and feel.”
Such technologies, said Ahmed, might be a boon to healthcare. But, he added, the role of patients in agreeing to participate shouldn’t be forgotten. “Ultimately, it’s concerning the operation, about [the patient], about his cancer care and that must be the priority for everyone.
“The indisputable fact that patients have agreed to do that before – with the Google Glass – and again, it is kind of reassuring and quite humbling.”
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