Holograms helping healthcare
Experts gather in Rotorua to discuss latest technological breakthroughs.
Holograms of accurate human skeletons, layered with muscle and organs, veins and vessels are among technological breakthroughs tipped to revolutionise healthcare.
Health and technology experts will meet in Rotorua this week to discuss the latest trends — including the holograms, which are used overseas instead of cadavers to train medical students, and by surgeons to plan operations.
Speakers at the 2017 Health Informatics New Zealand Conference — the country’s largest digital health event — include Microsoft chief medical officer Dr Simon Kos, who told the Herald on Sunday New Zealanders could benefit from the cutting-edge technology on medical wards in the years to come.
Recent advances from Microsoft included the developing of “Hololens” virtual reality technology — featuring holograms — being used to teach students at Case Western Reserve University in the United States.
Surgeons were also using the technology to improve planning for complex surgeries. In Norway specialists were using holograms to plan liver surgery and paediatric cardiac surgeries.
“It can take a scan of a particular patient’s heart, not a generic heart, and they are building it holographically in full fidelity. They know when they get in that they want to cut here or miss this structure.
“Now we can render in three dimensions, which is blowing everyone away from medical students in their learning to doctors who are using it pre-operatively,” Kos said.
The hologram scans meant fewer surprises for surgeons, quicker recovery time and better outcomes for patients and lower costs through planning.
Nurses were also using Hololens during home visits so they could access patient notes and treat the patient at the same time. They could then put the headset on the patient if they needed to have a discussion with a virtual doctor.
The technology was especially beneficial for geographically isolated or immobile patients.
Kos wanted to see technology work so healthcare moved from treating people when they became sick to preventing illness.
“We need to know how we can best introduce these technologies without compromising our quality of care.”