Modern medicine can no longer be imagined without high technology. With the help of them, you can simulate the appearance of a patient after plastic surgery, cure cancer and save a person without a limb from phantom pains.
The standards of health and beauty in the era of high-speed digitalization are changing: there is a rapid restructuring for consumer behavior and an increasing demand for quality and exclusivity. Youth and health are turning into very real parameters that can be returned and supported.
Now it is possible through high technology. The IBM Watson supercomputer uses deep machine learning and neural networks to find ways to treat cancer and explore other possible medical applications of radiology. And, for example, digital models of human organs in virtual projection are now used to train surgeons. They fully reproduce the real organ, which helps doctors hone new skills and minimize the chance of error. Every day we hear that in some region of our country, doctors for the first time were able to perform a complex operation through the introduction of technology. Over 160 successful corneal transplant surgeries were performed by ophthalmologists at the Botkin Hospital during the year using robots, virtual and augmented reality.
VR and AR simulators and technologies for training doctors
According to the consulting company IndustryARC, by 2020 the global market for virtual and augmented reality technologies in healthcare was expected to reach $2,54 billion. The key areas of application for VR and AR will be doctor education and patient rehabilitation.
360-degree shooting during the operation will no longer surprise students. But virtual reality glasses create a three-dimensional simulation with full immersion in the process. Such technologies are applicable in almost any field of medicine. They are especially needed in surgery – tele-surgeons, plastic surgeons, microsurgeons. Medical Simulation Corp. developed the Simantha complex specifically for cardiologists. A full-sized manikin allows you to inject a contrast agent into the “arteries” and use various tools to perform all kinds of manipulations with the “heart”. The monitors display a full-fledged simulation of the insides of the organ. The complex captures telemetry and responds to the doctor’s actions.
3D modeling of appearance in aesthetic medicine
3D modeling helps to solve one of the most important problems of plastic medicine – client satisfaction with the results of the operation. According to statistics, after breast augmentation (mammoplasty), on average, in 20% of cases, clients were dissatisfied with the shape or size of their breasts. And the point is not that the surgeon performed the task purely technically poorly, but that during the consultation the patient’s desires were interpreted by the doctor in his own way. Often girls come with a request to make a nose, like a famous model, or enlarge their breasts, “like a friend.” They miss the main thing – the proportions of the figure of another person are different. And the shape of the nose of the “star” does not always fit the other girl. In plastic surgery, it is important to level the difference between expectation and reality, and this is not always possible to do. Whether or not to perform surgery in this case is a matter of professional ethics that every plastic surgeon faces sooner or later. Everyone answers it differently. 3D modeling removes this challenge.
How it works? The doctor scans the patient using a special attachment for the tablet and uploads the obtained data in an online format to a special simulation program. After that, the patient can observe the ongoing changes in his appearance – how the new nose or new chest will look, how the contour of the body or face will change. Due to virtual reality glasses, you can literally try on a new image for yourself. The program works for almost any surgical procedure.
The technology is convenient and simple: thanks to the online format, there is no need to download, install, update anything, information processing and any system updates occur remotely. Statistics show that after consultation with the use of modeling technology, 79% of respondents agreed to the operation, 2% refused and 19% remained in thought (mainly due to financial reasons). Many women consider the possibility of plastic surgery for years, but constantly put it off for later because of fear of the recovery period or fear of being disappointed with the result.
VR technologies in patient rehabilitation
Virtual and augmented reality technologies have also found application in the field of patient rehabilitation. The return of the patient to the usual way of life is the main task after surgery. It is especially acute for those people who have lost limbs, experience severe phantom pain and are in a state of psychological crisis. It was almost impossible to get rid of phantom pains earlier.
The introduction of virtual reality glasses into the process of patient rehabilitation at the Swedish Chalmers University of Technology confirmed the progressiveness of the method. Sensors are connected to the stump of a patient with an amputated arm, which take signals from contracting muscles. The computer translates them into the actions of a virtual hand displayed in VR glasses. The hand is not just set in motion: with its help, the patient can even drive a virtual car. The brain receives a signal that the limb exists. A huge plus is that the intensity of phantom pains is reduced.
Medicine is becoming increasingly difficult to imagine without technology, digital and robotics. Of course, it will take years to unequivocally answer the question of how the technique of conducting operations, procedures and consultations has changed qualitatively with the advent of the latest technologies. Now is the period of implementation, research and observation. Only one thing can be said for sure – progress is obvious.