In the past months, we've been taking our virtual reality experiments a bit further; specifically an (Atlantic) ocean apart, to set up our very first experimental VR tumor boards between Toronto, Canada and Dublin, Ireland.Check out an excerpt from the boards in the below video:
Big thanks to the invitation by our former fellow Dr. John Conneely; he's been of great help to the TVASurg videos during his training, and has been relentlessly encouraging in our ventures in VR development after he took up a position at the Mater Hospital in Dublin.
We've discussed a local multiplayer setup earlier, where two players would be able to connect to a virtual space, talk and gesture to each other, and manipulate a shared 3D model of a patient-specific liver.
The original setup seen in the multiplayer VR module
To expand this, we figured we'd try to place our players on different continents: One would be our HPB/MOT fellow Dr. Chris Shubert at the Toronto General Hospital, Canada, and the other being Dr. Jarlath Bolger, an HPB fellow at the Mater Hospital in Dublin.
One of our players would stay in Toronto, Canada
The specific case model would be shared amongst 2 players, each with the ability to manipulate the model
The other player, in this case, would be in Dublin, Ireland
We've prepared two cases (one from each institution), with the goal of having each fellow describe their particular case, as well as their approach in devising a surgical treatment plan.
The Toronto case was a gynecologic oncological case with a tumor that involved the inferior vena cava
The Dublin case had a deep seated, central lesion which was residing close to the portal vein bifurcation
Save for a few connection bugs (thankfully squashed before going live), we're happy to report that the trans-Atlantic VR tumor boards was a success! One particular moment we all enjoyed was seeing Chris (virtually) passing a pair of forceps to Jarlath, which we hope hints at the potential interactive possibilities of VR collaboration down the road.
One of the more iconic moments during the VR boards - Chris handing Jarlath a pair of forceps
Special thanks to Dr Florence Grehan, director of clinical photography at Dublin's Mater hospital for capturing the session in Dublin, as well as Dr. John Conneely, Dr. Jarlath Bolger, Dr. Mike Jelly, and Dr. Faraz Khan for arranging the logistics of all equipment.
Oculus Rift 3D model created by EternalRealm.
Stay tuned for our next update!
The TVASurg team
Hi guys, little late to the party, apologies, it’s been a busy month or so! The video is awesome. Hard to convey the intuitive-“ness” of the VR environment for the MDT discussion and teaching element. The eureka moment was the passing of a DeBakey across the Atlantic, genuine AR in VR for training and knowledge sharing. We can’t wait to do the next one, this time with that convict Cavallucci in Brisbane!
Hope all our friends in T.O. are staying safe and flattening the curve. Looking forward to our next joint (ad)venture in happier times soon.
All the best,
JC