DIRECT – A London surgeon is operating. The operation is currently being filmed using Google glasses and broadcast around the world.
Since 1 p.m. today, Dr Shafi Ahmed is in full operation. Google glasses on the surgeon’s nose associated with other cameras in the operating room transmit it live, and around the world. A world first.
The patient is a 70-year-old man with colon cancer. The medical teams did not specify his name but assured that he was impatient with the idea of his operation being distributed internationally, indicated our British colleagues from the Guardian.
“Viewers” can now watch the operation on their smartphone via the sites Medical Realities, co-founded by the surgeon, and the streaming site Matavision. Multiple viewing angles are available as multiple cameras are placed around the operating table. The procedure should last between 2 and 3 hours.
Live screenshot on site www.medicalrealities.com
Revolutionizing learning
Dr Shafi Ahmed’s goal is to innovate in education. Usually, surgical interns learn the gestures with their internship supervisor in the operating rooms. But thanks to this technology, it is possible to share surgical practices across the world.
The surgeon is not at his first attempt. In 2014, he filmed and broadcast the removal of a tumor in the liver and stomach in a 78-year-old patient. The operation had been watched by more than 13,000 students and health professionals in a hundred countries. During the operation, they could ask the surgeon questions. These were displayed on the screen of his Google Glass allowing him to respond live.
Ultimately, the doctor would like to create a “virtual surgeon” training. He hopes that in 3 or 4 years it will be possible to create a virtual world in which you can grab a scalpel, make an incision and operate on a patient. All while really feeling the atmosphere of an operating theater, the presence of a medical team and the noise of machines. An immersion that should revolutionize learning by simulation.
.
