iPad Brings Augmented Reality To The OR

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

A new app turns any iPad into a real time viewfinder to plan surgeries and keep track of key blood vessels

In Germany, iPads are being used by surgeons as support to show critical blood vessels and relay an augmented reality of the patient’s vital organs in a digital overlay. According to MedCity News, "This is a huge development for doctors, who often have to memorize the exact locations of blood vessels in an effort to avoid them. Switching over to an augmented reality-based system like this one means they no longer have to do that — which could save lives."

One drawback according to MedCity News is "it’s tough not to see the process as anything but clunky. Because a surgeon can’t hold an iPad and operate at the same time, using the app requires both another pair of hands and someone with enough fortitude to hold an iPad up during long and difficult surgeries." One suggested solution is to create a similar application for a hands free device like Google Glass so that surgeons can see the images right before their eyes.

Reuters covered a surgery using iPad in Hamburg, Germany, and reporter Fabian Bimmer was impressed with its performance. “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.”

The surgery Bimmer witnessed was to remove cancer from the patient's liver, and Bimmer notes, “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.”

Prof. Dr. Karl Oldhafer, Chief of the Department of Surgery at the Asklepios Klinik Barmbek in Hamburg, said in a Fraunhofer MEVIS press release, “Using this function, we can virtually look into the organ and make the tumor and vessel structures visible. With this new technology, we are able to better implement computer-supported operation planning for tumor removal."

Oldhafer concluded, “The method has great potential. We imagine using it for operations on other organs, such as the pancreas."