Neurosurgeon Dr. Kurtis Auguste has been using virtual reality technology to simulate brain surgery prior to putting his patients under the knife. One of his patients, Mathias, and his mother, Lindsey, join The Doctors. Mathias said he had been paralyzed and lost his ability to speak but thanks to Dr. Auguste he has recovered from both. He now lives his life without limitations. His mother said the use of the VR technology prior to the surgery made their whole family feel really empowered and hopeful.
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Mathias had a blood clot in his brain, and his brain was also extremely swollen. This was due to a hidden brain tumor. With the use of VR technology, what would have been very difficult to see otherwise was available in full detail to Dr. Auguste.
Dr. Auguste gives The Doctors VR goggles and has them join in on a VR tour of Mathias’ brain. The Doctors are even given their own avatars to immerse themselves into the anatomy. “This is truly remarkable,” ER physician Dr. Travis Stork raved. He was excited by the idea that this could have emergent applications.
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VR technology can be used not just in neurosurgery, but in any medical situation where 2D images being reconstructed as 3D is applicable. The Doctors were surprised to find that setting up a VR model by building a case and moving 2D to 3D only takes about 20 minutes. Dr. Auguste hopes that by the end of his career doctors will ask, “How did we ever take care of these patients without the use of VR?”
