October 23, 2019

Augmented reality can be used for more than just Pokémon Go. It’s being used in retail and design as well and is also making a foray into the medical world.

A research institute wants to make surgery via augmented reality possible to where surgeons can get a better idea of what they’re doing with AR providing them X-ray vision.

MediView XR, a new startup from the Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute, is being developed to grant X-ray vision to surgeons while they’re operating on patients.

Using AR goggles that are similar to Microsoft HoloLens, the MediView XR technology allows surgeons to look inside patients to see what they’re operating on. Instead of having to refer back to a patient’s X-ray taken earlier, it’s all right there.

But it’s better than an X-ray, as it’s in 3-D, allowing surgeons to see organs, blood vessels, bones, and even things they are working on removing, such as cancerous tumors.

This system “fuses” the readings from ultrasound devices, such as CT or MRI scans and provides a view to a patient’s anatomy without the exposure to harmful X-rays. Being three-dimensional, it allows surgeons to move around the patient and still see what they’re working on from the changing perspective […read more]