By CTV News Staff, CTV News, April 15, 2016
British doctors gave viewers a virtual reality look into the OR this week when they live-streamed the world’s first 360-degree view of a cancer surgery.
Dr. Shafi Ahmed, a colorectal surgery specialist, performed the surgery Thursday, removing cancerous tissue from a patient’s colon operation at Barts Health’s Royal London Hospital.
As he worked, two 360-degree cameras live-streamed the procedure to medical students and surgeons-in-training. All the trainees had been outfitted with virtual reality headsets developed by a company that Ahmed co-founded called Medical Realities.
Other curious viewers were also able to tune in to the Medical Realities website and watch the feed live.
While other surgeries have been live-streamed before, this was the first to be filmed using 360-degree cameras, giving viewers a virtual reality experience of being there.
With a full perspective of the room, viewers were able to see precisely what the surgeon was doing as well as how others in the operating room were able to assist.
Ahmed has long championed the use of technology in the operating room, saying that broadcasting such events offers medical students a virtual experience of surgery, and allows non-medical viewers an inside look at the medical profession.