Inside the iSurgery operation

When my boss told me that I had to cover liver surgery using an iPad, I had no idea how an iPad could be helpful during an operation.

We use these new toys in different ways: GPS for cars, during sporting activities, music, mail and for other ways to communicate. Some of my colleagues use tablet computers to present their portfolios and to operate their cameras. Swiss camera maker Alpa uses an iPhone as a viewfinder for their tilt and shift cameras. But I couldn’t imagine how an iPad would be helpful during an operation to remove two tumors from a liver.

Also, I knew nothing at all about livers or any surgery before this assignment.

The Professor entered the room with an iPad in his hands. It was covered in a plastic bag, like the zip lock bags I use at home in my freezer.

When he could see the liver he used the iPad to localize the two tumors in the liver. It was very exciting as it was one of the first operations to be carried out in this way within Germany.

The tablet uses augmented reality, which allows the liver to be filmed with an iPad and overlaid during an operation with virtual 3D models reconstructed from the real organ. Developed by Fraunhofer MEVIS in Bremen, this procedure helps locate critical structures such as tumors and vessels and is expected to improve the quality of transferring pre-operational resection plans into actual surgery, according to Bianka Hofmann from the institute.

I was really impressed with how many surgeons, doctors and nurses took part in one surgery and how everybody seemed to know their roles exactly. Even more impressive and fascinating was getting a picture of this tiny little white lump – the cancer – which could be so vicious and dangerous to the human body.

See it on Scoop.it, via healthcare technology

by Shane Turner via NursingFacultyJobs.com