Augmented Reality Neurosurgery

Augmented reality neurosurgery. It is an all-known fact that neurosurgery is a sensitive matter, and the margin of error should be at the minimum, or best, eliminated. With the recent advancement of technology, an augmented reality has been made available to help neurosurgeons plan and plot the procedures needed for the patient.

A team from Microsoft Research Cambridge built an augmented reality system to help neurosurgeons visualize their patients’ brain scans via 3D technology. With the help of little duct tape, a touch screen tablet, and their new Kinect API, this augmented reality system was made possible. The 3D model was supplied by Kinect Fusion, and the developers hope that this could fuel medical innovations

During the 13th annual Microsoft TechFest, Ben Glocker gave a demonstration on how this augmented reality system works. His demo showed how a prototype of this system can help neurosurgeons prepare for surgery by looking inside a patient's brain before they cut it open. The system allows doctors to see the skeleton, brain, blood vessels, and the targeted tumor on the tablet, which acts as the monitor. They can move the viewpoint around the patient’s head, thus, helping them to plot the best brain surgery path for the procedure.

Although this system uses an already-taken scan result, this innovation poses great advantage to the field of neurosurgery. Many speculate that following this release, an augmented reality that uses real-time scans is next in line to help neurosurgeons better their surgery execution.

The Kinect Fusion API will be released on the next Kinect for Windows SDK; researchers say that it will be out very soon.

Augmented Reality Neurosurgery

Augmented Reality Neurosurgery

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