Category: Orthopedic

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SIGN Fracture Care & Precision OS Provide Oculus Quests to Aid VR Surgical Training in Developing Countries

A couple of months ago surgical training specialist Precision OS hosted a worldwide virtual reality (VR) training course during the Global Spine Congress (GSC) helping to showcase its educational platform. Today, the company has announced a partnership with humanitarian organization SIGN Fracture Care to bring surgical training to orthopaedic surgeons in
developing countries.

Precision

This has been made possible thanks to Epic Games collaborating with Precision OS, providing an Epic MegaGrant because the training company uses Unreal Engine to build the VR training solution.

SIGN Fracture Care specialises in providing access to fracture surgery for those that can’t afford it by donating orthopaedic education and implant systems. Its partnership with Precision OS means an expansion of these efforts which currently serve  365 hospitals across 53 countries. Oculus Quest’s preloaded with Precision’s surgical training platform will be distributed to these hospitals, allowing physicians to be taught remotely using the software’s multiplayer option.

“From the day we founded the company, we had a vision for using the immense scalability of virtual reality training to improve surgeon training and raise the standard of care worldwide,” states Danny Goel, M.D., CEO and co-founder of Precision OS. “SIGN Fracture Care International has been dedicated to that same mission and we are proud to support their work. We are grateful to our partners in this effort who are helping us to realize our collective vision.”

Precision

David Shearer, M.D. and Richard Gellman, M.D., surgeons and SIGN Board Members as well as founder and president of SIGN Fracture Care, Lewis Zirkle M.D. will provide the training.

“As it stands we have to spend several months a year travelling or flying surgeons to our headquarters to do training with the SIGN System,” says Dr. Shearer. “With VR, we have the opportunity to provide high-quality training remotely, which can markedly reduce the time and expense required. This has the potential to free up resources to train more surgeons, invest in manufacturing, and ultimately achieve greater impact.”

VR is proving to be a cost-effective training solution across a range of industries, not just healthcare, from teaching schoolchildren to enterprise. As the sector continues to grow, VRFocus will keep you updated.

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Global Spine Congress to Host Cadaver-Less Training Course for 100 Surgeons Using Oculus Quest

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.

Precision OS

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.

Precision OS image3“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.

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Precision OS Secures $2.3 Million Investment for VR Orthopedic Surgical Education

To help the development of its virtual reality (VR) orthopaedic surgical education and pre-operative planning software,  Precision OS Technology has managed to secure $2.3 million USD in a Series A funding rounding, the company recently announced. 

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Led by Swiss investment fund AO Invest, the round featured several undisclosed investors.

The Precision OS software allows practising surgeons to perform simulated medical procedures whilst offering feedback to help users improve their techniques. It was designed by company co-founders Colin O’Connor (CTO) and Roberto Oliveira (CCO) alongside orthopaedic surgeon and CEO of Precision OS, Dr. Danny P. Goel, who helps the software target working surgeons effectively.

“Precision OS is delighted to be cooperating with an international organization that is a recognized leader in education for surgeons and operating room personnel around the world,” says Dr. Goel in a statement. “Precision OS technology is working to create a virtual language able to add depth of understanding that simply cannot be achieved using current simulation tools. Adopting VR as a way of improving decision-making is directly relevant for patients and value-based care.”

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“For all of us at AO Invest, as is the case for our partners at Precision OS, the patients and surgeons are always centre stage: their needs are of the utmost importance to us,” adds Michel Orsinger, chairman of AO Invest. “In addition to responding to requirements they have already identified, we also work to pre-empt needs that will arise as the healthcare environment changes and technology advances. We evaluated several VR companies all over the world, and Precision OS’s technology convinced us through its accuracy, quality, and overall approach to education in VR. The feel of the product is extremely impressive. We believe that their platform holds the potential to change surgical education and the standard of care globally.”

As for the future of Precision OS the company is working on developing a preoperative planning tool that allows surgeons to introduce images of a specific patient’s anatomy to the software prior to conducting a procedure. As further advances are made within the healthcare industry using VR, VRFocus will let you know.