Multidimensional Medical Imaging in Virtual Reality
Patient data from CT, MRI, echocardiography and ultrasound form the basis for digital teaching in VR. The complete patient record is imported into Medicalholodeck and visualized in a fully immersive virtual space. In addition to image data, laboratory results and other information can also be displayed. Visualizing the complete patient data in digital space creates an immersive patient model - a medical digital twin. In Münster, teaching with such a medical digital twin enables neurosurgical training at a very high didactic level.
Neurosurgical Teaching in VR at Münster University Hospital
Neurosurgical teaching in Virtual Reality at UKM is the initiative of Markus Holling, MD (read the interview here). The deputy director of the Department of Neurosurgery is responsible for student teaching and has developed and continuously expanded the project since 2019.
Medicalholodeck supports his teaching with a wide range of importable data formats, digital tools for segmentation and masking, and easy-to-use team functionality. In addition, Medicalholodeck can access the rich online library with wireless Oculus Quest 2 hardware without the need for locally installed computers.
Medical Digital Twins for Surgical Training
Using medical digital Twins in medical teaching and surgical training opens up new and diverse possibilities. Thanks to virtual reality's digital representation of multidimensional patient data (4D, 3D, and 2D data, plus additional information), surgical teaching can be taught and trained specifically on suitable real cases. The representation of all patient data in an immersive digital space allows exceptionally detailed insight into the patient's characteristics and the precise operation simulation.
Creating medical digital twins in Medicalholodeck is simple. 4D and 3D data from CT, MRI, CBCT, PET, SPECT, Echocardiography, and Ultrasound can be imported. Additionally, 3D data formats (Obj, STL), images, movies, texts, and even PDFs, can be imported and displayed. Patient data is imported in no time and displayed in the fully digital immersive VR space.
Universitätsklinikum Münster
Münster University Hospital (UKM) is a German maximum-care hospital in Münster. It has 1,513 beds in which a total of 55,582 inpatients and 499,113 outpatients were treated in 2020. It consists of over 40 individual clinics and polyclinics that work closely with the Medical Faculty of the Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster.
Since the winter semester of 2021, Dr. Holling has taught neurosurgical procedures in VR twice a week. In addition to the usual anatomical aspects, the focus is set on depicting actual pathologies (e.g., aneurysms) and the therapeutic approach. Dr. Holling demonstrates the correct incision and removal of bone and points out brain sections and alternative access routes. It is important to him that all participants can actively participate in the demonstrations.
Learning Success With Medical Virtual Reality
The residents appreciate the immersive teaching with Medicalholodeck. Their feedback is very positive: the winter semester of 2021/2022 showed that the neurosurgery course was evaluated well above the faculty average and as the best practical course of the semester.
The residents are impressed with the visual quality, ease of use of the software, and most importantly, the steeper learning curve and resulting time savings. Inexperienced residents using Medicalholodeck for the first time understand the handling of the software in less than 5 minutes.
Working on precise medical digital twins allows training on real patient cases in a team, independent practice, and self-study. Dr. Holling is convinced that medical virtual reality in combination with medical digital twins will play a significant role in the field of surgical training in the future.
Medical Education With Remote Rendering, On-Premise Hosting, and PC VR
Medicalholodeck works with VR glasses from all manufacturers and can be used with PC VR tethered to a computer and Meta's Air Link, wireless use via Wi-Fi.
In addition, Medicalholodeck offers Remote Rendering. Remote Rendering enables location-independent VR streaming via the internet. Virtual Reality can be used in the highest resolution and performance, which is of great importance for medical imaging. In addition, Medicalholodeck offers Remote Rendering. Remote Rendering enables location-independent VR streaming via the internet.
For this purpose, Medicalholodeck has integrated NVIDIA's CloudXR into its applications. A dedicated Remote Rendering server is up and running within a minute, and location-independent teamwork can start. The user only requires a lightweight Meta Quest 2 VR headset.
For more information, contact info@medicalholodeck.com June 2022