Use Case Training Germany's Next Top Surgeons The University Hospital Bonn is Teaching Surgery in Virtual Reality

UKB is using Medicalholodeck's Medical Imaging XR to train germany's next top surgeons in virtual reality. By using VR young med students can collaboratively study and work on real patient's cases in a fully immersive 3D environment. Training and teaching in VR safes time and raises education quality. It sounds futuristic and looks unusual at first glance. Four medical students and an assistant doctor stand at the front of the lecture hall, equipped with VR headsets on their heads. Everyone looks around a bit uncoordinated, turning every now and then and putting their hands in the air around them. They can no longer perceive the real space. Since the summer semester 2021, Dr. Jan Arensmeyer and Philipp Feodorovici from the Clinic for General, Visceral, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery at the UKB have already given this special kind of seminar. Together with senior physician PD Dr. Philipp Lingohr and Senior Physician Dr. Nils Sommer from the teaching team at the surgical clinic has been working on this since they received funding from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for the virtual teaching pilot project. With the support of Prof. Joachim Schmidt, Head of Thoracic Surgery at the UKB, and in close cooperation with an innovative software company from Zurich / Switzerland, the VR tool has been readjusted and improved again and again since the first use of the VR tool in the last semester. In the meantime, VR technology is reliably in use almost every Wednesday in the surgery lecture hall and is continuously being further developed despite the low budget. Complex 2D representations from imaging processes - such as MRT or CT - can be experienced three-dimensionally in the virtual world. The students learn the anatomy of the skeleton, the vessels or the internal organs, artificially worked up three-dimensionally, mostly from the textbook. In the advanced part of the study, the focus is on the interpretation of the diagnostic imaging (X-ray, CT, MRT) and presents major challenges, especially for the inexperienced observer. “We can now close this gap. As the students of the University of Bonn view and process the three-dimensional reconstruction of the imaging in real time in the VR-Space and thus simulate the detailed view of the surgeon on the body of a patient, they can develop and learn a good understanding of the real anatomy and the various clinical pictures the surgical treatment approach much faster, ”says Dr. Arensmeyer. And the fun factor is not neglected when using the VR glasses teaching. The students need little training time and learn to use images intuitively in the VR space in a relaxed atmosphere. According to initial evaluations, well over 90 percent of the students who have taken part so far want work with VR glasses to be permanently integrated into everyday clinical practice and teaching. In the near future, it should also be possible to experience virtual interventions using the tool without risk and to meet virtually with users from other locations. "At the moment, the VR units are still tied to a specific location, but our vision for the future is that we can also offer participation in VR lessons at any location, e.g. from home. Experts or lecturers from different clinics could also meet in the virtual world to discuss a patient's case and plan surgery, with the students participating as observers. 'Remote learning', says Feodorovici, can thereby also gain a high status in medical training”. Read more on the website of the UKB > For more information, contact info@medicalholodeck.com