Dr. Chetan Patel on Developing Augmented Reality Eyeglasses for Surgeons
By Admin | September 13, 2021
In the operating room, a surgeon’s every move is critical. Some surgeries, such as spinal procedures, require not only focus and precision, but also for a physician to simultaneously look at both the patient and a computer to guide surgical instruments during procedures. To make surgeries safer for the patient, an AdventHealth physician invented innovative eyeglasses for surgeons that tap into augmented reality (AR) technologies. Called iSight, these surgical eyeglasses overlay critical data, like vital signs, anesthesia and imaging, onto a surgeon’s eyeglasses, eliminating the need for surgeons to turn away from the patient to look at a screen during a procedure.
DocWire News spoke with Dr. Chetan Patel, orthopedic surgeon, spine specialist and the executive medical director for spine surgery at AdventHealth Neuroscience Institute, saw a major need for this technology while in surgery and worked to patent this AR technology. See what Dr. Patel had to say.
DocWire News: Can you provide us with some background on yourself?
Dr. Chetan Patel: Sure. This is my 20th year in practice now, so I’ve been doing this for a while. I’ve spent most of my career, not only practicing spine surgery, but also dedicated to research, and teaching, and education. So I’ve taught residents and fellows. I routinely teach surgeons that are in practice through my North American Spine Society commitments and American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery. I specialize in technology, so I’m the section chair for North American Spine Society for robotics and navigation. So exactly the sort of thing you’re talking about is how to use technology to achieve the best outcome possible?
What are some of the challenges surgeons face as it pertains to having to simultaneously focus their sight on different things?
As you can imagine, spine surgery is delicate and requires high accuracy. And one of the parts where we’re the most worried about accuracy is when we put in a screw. Our margin of error is one to two millimeters in structures that we can’t really see with our naked eye. So we rely on either x-ray or advanced technologies, such as navigation and robotics, to ensure a high level of accuracy to the best of our abilities. But that introduces a second problem, which is in order for us to see that screen, we’ve got to position it where it would be ideal for us. Which would, typically, be directly across from us, but that’s where our assistant needs to be. And even if we place it there, we would have to look up and the monitor is small. What we end up doing, typically, is putting the screen, whether it be x-ray or navigation or robotics, off axis about 45 degrees to the side. And we end up having to look away from the patient, up and twist our neck or twist our body so we can actually...(More)
For more info please read, Dr. Chetan Patel on Developing Augmented Reality Eyeglasses for Surgeons, by docwirenews
