Fortune USA 201901-02

FOCUS

27

FORTUNE.COM// JA N.1 .19

A FEW DAYS BEFOREtugging on surgical

gloves to slice open a patient’s brain,

doctors at Stanford University slip on virtual

reality goggles to help prepare for the risky

procedure. Conventional MRI or CT scans

can reveal only so much about what a patient’s

brain looks like. But feed those images into

VR technology, and surgeons can see the

brain—all the ridges and fissures, lobes and

veins—in 3D, so they can simulate surgery

before stepping into the operating room.

“It’s as if we have been there before, and

it’s not a surprise,” says Gary Steinberg, a

Stanford Medicine neurosurgeon who

TECH

Stanford Medicine’s

Neurosurgical

Simulation Center

is home to a cutting-

edge training

program involving

virtual reality.

VR GETS REAL

IN THE OR

Doctors and medical students are increasingly

using virtual reality to prepare for surgery.

By Andrew Zaleski

PA

UL

SA

KU

MA

—S

TA

NF

OR

D^ S

CH

OO

L^ O

F^ M

ED

IC

IN

E