31.05.12
Touchless technology aids surgeons in London
London doctors are trialling ‘touchless’ technology for intricate keyhole surgery, where they can manipulate images with their voice and hand gestures rather than a keyboard and mouse.
Gaming systems such as the Xbox Kinect already use a version of the technology, which is being adapted for a healthcare setting by Microsoft andLancasterUniversity. It allows surgeons to access information from 3D images more easily and quickly. It also eliminates the need to contact non-sterile objects.
Doctors at St Thomas’ hospital are trialling the technology in vascular surgery, to move across images and zoom in and out via a sensor beneath a display monitor.
John Brennan, president of the British Society for Endovascular Therapy, told the BBC: “I think these sort of advances in image manipulation which is an integral part of the a lot of the minimally invasive stuff that is done nowadays – they are inevitably going to become more refined and more available.
“I would find it difficult to think of operating rooms in ten or 15 years time where these were just not the norm.”
Dr Mark Rouncefield, from theSchoolofComputingand Communications atLancasterUniversity, said: “This is a lovely example of a successful interdisciplinary research project, combining the technical skills of computer scientists with a social scientific and medical expertise that ensures the new technology resonates with the way in which surgeons actually do their work.”
The trial is soon to be extended to other centres and other types of surgery.
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