Augmented reality has now gone way beyond just games and entertainment. The healthcare industry has emerged as one of the top adopters of AR-based applications. A surgeon at the Doctors Hospital in Georgia became the first to use AR technology for a surgical procedure in the state.
“We were the first ones in Georgia to use it. One of a handful across the country who have been able to use this enabling technology. For me, it was one of those ‘wow’ moments. I was able to look down at the patient and comfortably see within the patient’s body in a 3-D or X-ray type vision. I never had to take my eyes off the patient. I was really comfortable doing what I was doing with better vision,” said Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Justin Bundy.
Bundy believes that more doctors and hospitals are going to adopt the technology soon. He also discussed several advantages of the technology over conventional healthcare means.
“I think in general the surgery has gone to a less invasive model and any way to do that safer and more reproducible is going to help us and this technology definitely does that. It’s in its infancy. We’re the first in Georgia; so, version one is going well. What does version 5 look like? It’s going to be amazing,” stated Bundy.
This was the first successful procedure of this kind in the state and highlighted various benefits over the traditional surgical methods.
“So, this was a patient referred up from the Savannah area. She had an excellent outcome. She’s about a month out now. We’re very happy she came to Augusta and very happy we used the Augments with her. This tool absolutely allows us to use less invasive incisions, less invasive muscle dissection to put in screws safely. Being able to do that enhances a person’s outcome as far as recovery goes, as far as safety goes, as far as reproducibility…knowing where we are in the operation,” added Bundy.
Follow us on LinkedIn
Read other Articles