This May will see the annual Global Spine Congress (GSC) take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, one of the largest events in the world for spine surgeons. As part of the three-day event, orthopaedic surgical training specialist Precision OS will be hosting a unique virtual reality (VR) training course involving 100 orthopaedic surgeons from around the world.
Using Oculus Quest headsets, Precision OS’ educational modules are designed to help the user to learn concepts faster, with the course during the GSC a perfect time to demonstrate how VR cadaver-less training works. A study published in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery – American which was conducted by Precision OS and performed in collaboration with the Canadian Shoulder and Elbow Society (CSES) found that VR saw a 570% improvement in efficiency over traditional approaches to training.
“We considered how to improve patient outcomes very carefully when creating our surgeon training platform,” said Dr. Danny Goel, an orthopaedic shoulder surgeon and Chief Executive Officer at Precision OS in a statement. “Being in the operating room and understanding the challenges we face as surgeons is how we approached our model. There are critical unmet needs with current models of simulation that are required for surgeons to become experts — and we feel our method helps to fill those gaps.”
Headsets like Oculus Quest now make this process easier, removing obstacles like wires and PC’s which can be restrictive.
“The Global Spine Congress is very excited to offer a novel course on spinal procedures using the Precision OS virtual reality platform to replace cadavers and teach complex spinal procedures,” said Dr. Jeffrey Wang, Course Chairman and Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Neurosurgery, University of Southern California Spine Center. “It appears the future of surgical simulation is now available, and we are extremely pleased to offer this unique opportunity to utilize modern technology and optimize the educational experience.”
In 2018 Precision OS closed a Series A funding round securing $2.3 million USD of investment towards its surgical platform. Due to the complexities of surgical training, there aren’t many companies in this VR space with FundamentalVR another notable specialist.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of VR and its healthcare potential, reporting back with the latest updates.