Posted on 10/18/2024 8:09:43 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Over the last month, Horgan and other surgeons at the University of California, San Diego have performed more than 20 minimally invasive operations while wearing Apple’s mixed-reality headsets. Apple released the headsets to the public in February, and they’ve largely been a commercial flop. But practitioners in some industries, including architecture and medicine, have been testing how they might serve particular needs.
Horgan says that wearing headsets during surgeries has improved his effectiveness while lowering his risk of injury—and could have an enormous impact on hospitals across the country, especially those without the means to afford specialty equipment. “This is the same level of revolution, but will impact more lives because of the access to it,” he says, referring to his previous breakthrough in 2000.
A good mixed-reality headset, then, might allow a surgeon to look at a patient’s surgical area and, without looking up, virtual screens that show them the laparoscopy camera and a patient’s vitals.
In previous years, Horgan tried other headsets, like Google Glass and Microsoft HoloLens, and found they weren’t high-resolution enough. But he tested the Apple Vision Pro before its release and was immediately impressed. Horgan applied for approval from the institutional review board at the University of California, which green-lit the use of the devices. In September, he led the first surgery with the Apple headset, for a paraesophageal hernia. “We are all blown away: It was better than we even expected,” Horgan says.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
That also means they're inviting Apple to watch (and record) your procedure.
So much for your right to medical privacy.
...as well as using a robot - nicknamed DaVinci - using laparoscopes and monitored on a laptop screen in the case of prostatectomies.
I want my surgeons and pilots to use their eyes.
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Which are what they use to look at the gizmo, which apparently gives an up close image of the area being operated on.
As for pilots...okay.
Five years ago Facebook Oculus was being used as a training device for doctors.
and they can see everything around them as well as videos, charts, readings, camera, the work area.
At $3500 a set, who is surprised?
I'm surprised any surgeon would admit to using them, given the opportunity for a malpractice suit should anything go wrong.
I have seen surgeons many times wearing lights and magnifiers outside of ORs in the surgical area, even while scrubbing in.
Even eyeglasses that surgeons wear are not sterilized pre-op, though cleaning is common.
My only point is that just because the Apple product is not presently amenable to sterilization, which was mentioned, does not mean that it cannot brought into an OR and used on some capacity.
And in the instance described, the hospital also went through other procedures to validate using it.
This type of thing needs done in medicine. The FDA is already way too bossy.
You have a good weekend too!
In August I had a five hour surgery to remove my colon. The surgeon used a robot which left only three 1 1/2 inch incisions on my abdomen. I was told by other doctors that they used to make large gashes which were much harder to deal with during the recovery.
It was elective surgery chosen after 3 1/2 years of constant ulcerative colitis. I was a prisoner in my home since I had to be within 25 steps of a bathroom. My only trips away from home were for doctor visits. Since the surgery I am driving again and I have taken many ventures outside my home.
best wishes. Three visits to the hospital since the last weekend of July 29 days total. Walking with a cane and driving again. Back to “normal”
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