Mixed Reality brings an unobstructed view without X-ray
Bridging the divide between the digital and real world is the vision of Taiwan Main Orthopaedic Biotechnology’s Smart Surgical Glasses. The product is designed to enable the surgeon to look into the patient during surgery via Mixed Reality: X-ray images or tissue images of the regions of interest can be viewed in real-time and in full HD resolution (1080p). ‘The relative position of the projected image to the patient is determined via four infra-red sensors,’ Communications Manager Dr Min-Liang Wang explains.
This provides the high degree of precision required in, for example, dorsal spinal surgery. The developers are convinced that ‘Smart surgical glasses will become a key tool for significant advances in surgery.’ The fact that the surgeon does not have to switch between patient and monitor is said to reduce the duration of the procedure by 30 percent – a fact that also means less radiation exposure for clinical staff and patient alike. At this point, there is only a prototype of the smart operating room (OR) glasses, but a market launch is planned for 2018 because the necessary clinical studies have progressed well.
