An NHS hospital has used Microsoft's Hololens to virtually bring together surgeons from across the world to operate together on a patient at The Royal London Hospital.
For the first time, three surgeons from Mumbai and London simultaneously wore Hololens headsets to appear live in the same hospital operating theatre where Professor Shafi Ahmed was operating to remove bowel cancer. They could 'see' each other moving as graphic avatars, standing and speaking as if together in the room.
Professor Ahmed was joined by Professor Shailesh Shrikhande, cancer surgeon at Tata Me morial Hospital in Mumbai and the largest cancer hospital in India, and Mr Hitesh Patel, consultant colorectal surgeon at BMI The London Independent Hospital.
Each specialist was able to point to pre-uploaded patient scans appearing as 3D holograms of the tumour hovering in the theatre, virtually drawing on the images to aid discussion all while the patient was on the operating table.
Professor Shafi Ahmed, colorectal surgeon at Barts Health NHS Trust, said: "We have truly integrated technology with healthcare. By bringing together specialists in real time from across the world and different time zones we have demonstrated that we can make surgery safer and ensure the best patient outcomes, democratising surgical practice."
Currently, medical and nursing specialists at hospitals meet regularly in a multidisciplinary team meeting to ensure a range of skills are involved when discussing the care of complex patient cases, referring to patient scans on PowerPoint presentations. However, it is limited to the insight of those at the hospital able to attend the meeting, and with emergency surgery there may not be time to discuss the complexities. When it comes to the operation, the surgeons are often on their own.
"Augmented and Virtual Reality have incredible potential, not only in the NHS but also to encourage collaboration to improve accessibility, equity and safety in developing countries", explained Professor Ahmed.
