The patient successfully underwent brain surgery, immersed in the world of VR
Welcome to our readers on the pages of the blog iCover ! Today we will talk about a unique operation performed by French neurosurgeons from a medical center in Angers. For the first time, a cancer tumor in the patient's brain was removed using a virtual reality headset, which became a source of useful operational information for doctors.
“When creating a completely artificial world for the patient, we could compare certain areas and connections of his brain related to functions that we could not, until now, be easily checked on the operating table,” explained Neurosurgeon Philippe Menei University clinic in Angers located in western France. Today, more than three weeks have passed since the operation on January 27. The patient feels great and is recovering, he added.
It is no secret that brain surgery, when the surgeon’s scalpel does its job, and the patient remains conscious, is a successful practice that has been used for more than a dozen years. This method of surgical intervention allows the surgeon to continuously monitor the vital functions of the patient — movement, hearing and vision — during the operation. At the same time, patients do not feel the sensing of the brain tissue, do not experience pain, and even perform Schubert's opera arias : ')
... However, the use of virtual reality glasses reveals a number of previously unattainable possibilities - continued Mene.
“By creating the necessary picture and studying the patient’s auditory and visual response, we are able to analyze the state of the neural connections of interest to us with the degree of detail that was previously unattainable. In the case of our “first mover” patient, we required maximum caution and a clear plan of action, since one eye had already been lost due to illness. Therefore, the obtained advantage turned out to be fundamentally important. ”
During the operation, an empty virtual spatial environment was created for the patient in VR glasses, in which specialists could imitate luminous points-objects fixed by the patient's peripheral vision during the operation. The response received allowed us to draw conclusions and move on much more accurately and confidently. Three weeks after the operation, the patient’s vision did not deteriorate, despite the fact that the aggressive tumor was removed in the responsible area responsible for eye control. Currently, says Mehne, the patient is preparing to undergo a course of chemotherapy.
Virtual reality glasses "... open the way to precision precision operations, making it possible to carry out manipulations that were technically and physically impossible until this time, such as, for example, removing inaccessible brain tumors," said Menay, whose team plans to develop success again in the coming months. The goal at this stage is to develop a technique for removing brain tumors located in close proximity to the areas that control vision.
VR headset can be adapted for children. And given the sad fact that brain cancer is the second most common form of cancer in France among the younger generation, the need for such an operation may arise as soon as possible.
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