- Title: 3D brain surgery simulator gets Hollywood treatment
- Date: 31st July 2017
- Summary: BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) DR. COHEN EXPLAINING PROCEDURE ON BRAIN MODEL (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. ALAN COHEN, NEUROSURGEON AND DEVELOPER OF 3D SIMULATOR, SAYING: "The idea is kind of taking a practice swing before hitting a golf ball - doing the operation before doing the operation. And we can do this in training courses in the United States or we can take these models and work internationally and bring them to teach surgeons how to do this operation and other operations using 3D printed models. It's safe, it's realistic, it's repeatable, and the real beauty of this is we can actually use the instruments that we use in the operating room on the 3D printed model heads." TIGHT SHOT BRAIN MODEL ON DR. COHEN'S DESK BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) DR. WEINSTOCK SPEAKING WITH 3D SIMULATORS IN BACKGROUND TIGHT SHOT 3D SIMULATOR (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. PETER WEINSTOCK, CO-DEVELOPER OF 3D SIMULATOR FOR PRACTICING BRAIN SURGERY, SAYING: "In the hustle and bustle of life and with healthcare being what it is and this concept of volume and being able to move patients through efficiently and effectively, the idea of pausing to take a moment to pre-brief or to rehearse an activity takes some time to accept and get your hands around. So I think that that's the big challenge moving forward. Some people say that medicine, in some ways, is the last high stakes industry not to rehearse priority game time, and I think that's because of a lot of the pressures on healthcare. And maybe the answer is to pause in that moment and join the other high stakes industries and start to rehearse as part of our regular activities. And in the end, there's good studies to show that once you do that the efficiency goes up, volume actually goes up, and outcomes improve." DR. WEINSTOCK LIFTING TOP OFF 3D SIMULATOR VARIOUS TIGHT SHOTS OF 3D SIMULATOR'S BRAIN EXTERIOR
- Embargoed: 14th August 2017 14:50
- Keywords: 3D brain surgery simulator Hollywood special effects FracturedFX Johns Hopkins Hospital Boston Children's Hospital
- Location: BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS / BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES / UNIDENTIFIED LOCATIONS
- City: BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS / BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES / UNIDENTIFIED LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA0056S1T93V
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: When a team of neurosurgeons and computer engineers set out to design a 3D simulator for practicing brain surgery, their goal was to make it as realistic as possible.
"It was not a long leap, ultimately, for us to reach out to our friends in Hollywood and say 'come on board,'" said Dr. Weinstock of Boston Children's Hospital. "We needed that kind of expertise to fill out what we were trying to accomplish in life-like, realistic rehearsal."
With the help of FracturedFX, an Emmy Award-winning special effects group, they created a full-scale reproduction of a 14-year-old child's head and brain, on which trainees can practice performing a delicate, minimally invasive, brain operation called endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV).
The procedure is used to treat hydrocephalus, one of the most common conditions seen in pediatric neurosurgery, in which there is excessive build-up of cerebrospinal fluid and pressure on the brain.
Neurosurgeons perform ETVs to re-route the fluid back into normal channels, eliminating the need to implant a lifelong shunt.
The simulator's developers hope their invention will help improve training of this procedure and others by offering a more true-to-life experience than the usual training tools, which include fruits and vegetables and cadavers.
"Cadavers are expensive; there are risks in working with cadavers; and the cadavers don't necessarily recapitulate the disorder that we're trying to treat, because a patient would have died from another condition," explained Dr. Alan Cohen, a co-developer of the simulator, at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
Known for playing his favorite Elvis Presley tunes in the operating room, Cohen added that practice, whether for a medical student or senior practitioner, is essential.
"The idea is kind of taking a practice swing before hitting a golf ball," he said.
While the developers boast that the simulator is a safe, realistic, reusable, and cost-effective way to train, Weinstock concedes that one of their biggest challenges is encouraging time-strapped health professionals to practice.
"In the end, there's good studies to show that once you do that the efficiency goes up, volume actually goes up, and outcomes improve," he said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
