A surgeon’s gaming hobby has inspired him to develop virtual reality technology designed to assist surgeons in preparing for complex procedures before entering the operating room.
Orthopaedic consultant David Howie, a trauma lead at University Hospital Wishaw, Scotland, developed his idea whilst playing the classic video game Angry Birds with his daughter.
NHS Lanarkshire’s IT staff helped him to develop the project by adapting existing VR software from Medicalholodeck.
Orthopaedic surgeons in Scotland now use this video-game-inspired technology to hone their surgical skills using VR headsets to view high-tech 3D images of complex injuries.
It allows a better view and understanding of the fracture via patient scans to plan more precise surgery.
Mr Howie told the BBC: ‘My daughter and I got a VR headset for Christmas, and it was great for gaming and playing Angry Birds and things. I suddenly thought, hang on, we should be able to view CT scans using this same technology, and there must be clever people who have already created the software.
‘Once you've used it, you realise how effective it is at understanding what you are looking at. You can clearly see where the fracture is, what the configuration is, and all the other little bits of fragments, and it gives you a much better idea of where it is broken. And it really helps us plan how we are going to fix it. In really complicated ones with six or seven different pieces, it is a game changer.
‘In the small number of really complicated cases where it's a bit of a smashed-up mess, it’s really nice to get your head around the mess before you start to get your knife around it.’
Mr Howie said companies have already developed similar technology but he believes his development is a more affordable option.
The pilot project cost less than the materials required for two hip operations in Scotland.
Staff are now collecting data to measure its success and see if there is scope to extend it to other surgeries.
Lyle Boylan, NHS Lanarkshire’s E-health transition manager, said: ‘We think it will help reduce clinical risk because it should speed up operations by giving us a better understanding of what is needed before we start these operations. We think we can use it for a patient experience point of view as well and actually show people what is happening in an operation in an easy-to-understand way.’
