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combined, will need 6 million new physi-
cians by 2020. Meanwhile, the U.S. needs an
additional 20,000 surgeons to treat its aging
population. The question is how to train all
of them. Virtual reality may be the answer,
although it comes with a hefty price tag.
Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson
has spent millions of dollars on an initiative
it began in 2017 to establish 24 virtual reality
training centers worldwide for surgeons.
Though off-the-shelf virtual reality hardware
is becoming cheaper, it’s still expensive to in-
tegrate with the necessary software that trans-
lates conventional medical images into 3D.
It costs Johnson & Johnson nearly $10,000
per VR unit on average. Stanford’s Neurosur-
gical Simulation Center, funded by its parent
hospital and outside donors, cost $750,000.
Virtual technology comes in two flavors:
a fully immersive experience, in which users
see only a computer-generated environment;
and mixed reality, in which 3D images are
projected onto the physical world.
Physicians already use virtual technology
for a variety of medical procedures, includ-
ing cancer treatment, by creating interactive
maps of tumors; and physical therapy, by
having patients play games that encourage
movement. But in surgery, it has perhaps the
greatest potential.
Traditionally, medical students are judged
by how long it takes them to perform a proce-
dure. Instead, with VR, medical students can
be graded on whether they make a mistake.
“It gives us a way to judge whether the
medical student has learned what they are
supposed to learn,” says Richard Satava, pro-
fessor emeritus of surgery at the University
of Washington in Seattle.
At Stanford, the Neurosurgical Simula-
tion Center resembles a miniature movie
theater, including four cinema-quality seats
(complete with cup holders) for students and
surgeons to sit in while using VR. Spectators
can watch on large TV screens mounted on
the wall.
In addition to doctors and students, 400
neurosurgery patients have viewed their
surgeries in virtual reality before their proce-
dures. “They can immerse themselves in their
brain,” Stanford’s Steinberg says. “It puts
them at ease and shows them exactly what
we’re going to do.”helped create the school’s two-year-old
Neurosurgical Simulation and Virtual Reality
Center.
Stanford Medicine is just one of a grow-
ing number of hospitals and medical schools
embracing virtual technology. The goal is to
provide better and faster training for resident
doctors and surgeons, whose skill can mean
the difference between life and death for
their patients.
Virtual reality’s adoption in medicine
comes after major improvements to the
technology over the past few years. Early
headsets and software provided jerky imagery
that nauseated some users, ruling it out for
medical training.
Since then, the technology has improved so
much that medical students can learn anatomy
by walking around a lifelike digital hologram of
a lung and transport themselves inside a heart
to see the valves and pumping blood.
Mark Griswold, radiology professor at Case
Western Reserve University’s Case Center for
Imaging Research in Cleveland, says virtual
technology is a big help in teaching the next
generation of doctors. Students who used
Microsoft HoloLens VR headsets to learn part
of the human anatomy—an arm, for exam-
ple—acquired that knowledge in nearly half
the time compared with students who studied
the same area solely on cadavers.
Speedier learning is especially important
in countries like China and India, which,
By using VR,
doctors can get
a more lifelike
view of the
work necessary
for upcoming
surgeries,
as opposed
to merely
reviewing MRIs
and CAT scans.COURTESYOFJOHNSON^ &JOHNSON