AR visor could help slice surgery times

Known as VOSTARS (Video Optical See-Through Augmented Reality surgical System), the device will be able to superimpose X-ray data onto a patient’s body. The head-mounted display (HMD) will also provide information on the anaesthetic used, as well as heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure and respiration. Initial trials will focus on procedures around the head, including maxillofacial surgery and neuro surgery.

“With this...highly ergonomic visor, we intend to provide all the information required to improve surgery,” said project coordinator Dr Vincenzo Ferrari, a biomedical engineering researcher at the University of Pisa.

“The primary goal is to reduce not just surgery times, but also the time spent under anaesthetic and the cost involved in any operation. For the patient, this means saving off 20 minutes of every three hours of surgery and the guarantee of an extremely accurate intervention.”

VOSTARS uses a head-mounted camera to capture what the surgeon sees. The system then merges this footage with the patient’s medical images, from CT, MRI, or 3DUS scans. According to the researchers, the device is a combination of a video see-through (VST) system and an optical see-through (OST) head-mounted display.