Hologram goggles to help with children’s heart surgery

CHILDREN’S heart surgeons will use hologram goggles to see inside patients’ bodies while carrying out lifesaving operations.

The devices – using similar technology to 3D gaming headsets – will help medics to see images of the heart, guiding them so they can operate with maximum precision in the most delicate of procedures.

The groundbreaking agreement between Alder Hey children’s hospital and Microsoft will result in technology called HoloLens being employed in operating theatres.

Hi-tech “augmented reality” headsets will allow surgeons to see a patient’s medical images in hologram form, while operating. Instead of memorising a 3D reconstruction of a sick child’s heart, surgeons will be able to view it on their headset.

Experts at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) conference in Munich said the technology would improve the safety of operations.

Professor Martin Cowie, from Imperial College London and chairman of the ESC digital health committee, likened the technology to using sat-nav.

“This is a big step forward,” he said, suggesting it could be rolled out across the NHS in the next decade. “This will lead to more accurate and safer operations, particularly in complex cases.”

Rafael Guerrero, one of Alder Hey’s cardiac surgeons, said: “The operations we are carrying out are incredibly delicate – especially when we are operating on babies, where a heart can be the size of a strawberry.”

Surgeons will also be able to access medical notes with a swipe of the hand.