Oculus Rift, Dual GoPros Used For Virtual Surgery

Virtual reality holds promise beyond the realm of gaming, and in few ways is this better demonstrated than in the medical field, where Oculus has been used to present surgeons-in-training with a no-risk way to get a bit of experience.

Remi Rousseau writes that despite virtual reality existing in the medical field for over thirty decades, it is the gaming industry that is most likely to make it widely available amongst doctors and students. Under the Moveo Foundation, Rousseau worked with Dr. Thomas Gregory of Paris Descartes University.

Two GoPro cameras were synchronized with each other and mounted on Dr. Gregory's forehead, where they recorded a birds-eye-view of a hip replacement surgery as he performed it. The end result is a three-dimensional video of the surgery done from the doctor's point of view.

This video is then played through the Oculus Rift for students and residents to watch, giving them unprecedented access to a surgery taking place from a surgeon's POV. Oculus Rift and virtual reality technologies promise to play a big part in the future, and work is now being done on allowing students to interact with the video as a training simulation.

SOURCE: Medium