Innovators and Innovations

       Virtual surgery has become a significant innovation for surgeons. It has allowed them to practice performing surgery on patients without having to use actual patients. Virtual surgery has become very popular and is not only used for amateur surgeons to practice, but it also serves as fun entertainment as well. Virtual surgery was invented in the 1950's by Morton Heilig, a cinematographer who wanted to give people a new sensory entertainment experience. Since then, virtual surgery has made an extraordinary impact on our country and has improved the lives of people all over the world.    

     Dr Sergio Cantarelli and Dr Gabriel Edidi, two doctors in Argentina, were able to perform a laporoscopic gastric sleeve surgery on a 39 year old woman with the help of their mentor, Dr Alex Gandsas, who was 5,400 miles away at the time. This was made possible because of the internet and a new robot which was 5 feet 5 inches tall and was equipped with high quality, real time audio and video communication. This robot has been used in the Sinai Hospital in Baltimore for quite some time and has made it possible for doctors to communicate with their patients and other doctors when they are unable to be there.

 (from left to right) Dr. Sergio Cantarelli,  Dr. Gabriel Edidi, and Dr. Alex Gandsas.  They are using the remote presence 7 (RP-7 robot) to be mentored on clinical procedures and practices.

 (Above) Dr (Vini) Gautam Khurana works at the Canberra Hospital in Australia.

    Another example of the impact of this innovation is when an Australian needed to have a life saving surgery. He needed to have an aneurysm removed from his brain. One of the keys to this successful surgery was the use of virtual reality software before and during the operation. Dr. Khurana who works at the Canberra Hospital in Australia who carried out the surgery, stated this: "The virtual neuron vascular surgery software enabled us to rehearse the procedure and made a very positive impact on the outcome. The technology we used was quite extraordinary." Weather it's used for life-saving purposes or pure enjoyment and entertainment, virtual surgery has had a major impact on our world today. Doctors are being provided with new tools by computer scientists to carry out delicate and difficult procedures.

    Steve Dawson is the program leader of the Stimulation program in the Center for Integration of Medicine & Innovative Technology (CIMIT). This Stimulation program is designed to create tools for surgeons to train with on practicing painful or risky procedures. They would practice this technique on simulators. Their job is to try to get the psychological pressure on the training surgeons while practicing so that the surgeon would get an idea of how it feels before actually doing the surgery. They want to create tools that can help them through the process and evaluate their performance. Projects like COMETS, a full body trauma casualty system, have been made to create different situations to practice on and help them learn how to handle difficult medical conditions and learn how to deal with it in certain environments.

   Steve Dawson, MD (Above) is the program leader in the Stimulation program

 
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