28 votes

Why surgeons are wearing the Apple Vision Pro in operating rooms

16 comments

  1. [6]
    rubaboo
    Link
    Pretty cool. I actually thought surgeons were using this kind of tech already for laparoscopic stuff. If not full-blown VR, then some kind of special optics at least. Saw this line though and...

    Pretty cool. I actually thought surgeons were using this kind of tech already for laparoscopic stuff. If not full-blown VR, then some kind of special optics at least.

    “So $3,500 for a headset is like budget dust in the healthcare setting.”

    Saw this line though and immediately thought, oh, don'tchu worry. If Apple sees this as a cash cow, they gon' release a Medical-Edition Vision that's $10k.

    21 votes
    1. CptBluebear
      Link Parent
      Perhaps, perhaps not. Apple made their AirPods hearing aids and got them FDA approved without an additional Medical® line associated with it.

      Perhaps, perhaps not. Apple made their AirPods hearing aids and got them FDA approved without an additional Medical® line associated with it.

      20 votes
    2. [3]
      tanglisha
      Link Parent
      Any idea why using this particular device is such a big deal? I would have expected it to be a Hololens.

      Any idea why using this particular device is such a big deal? I would have expected it to be a Hololens.

      3 votes
      1. [2]
        jackson
        Link Parent
        From the article, they said the hololens displays are not high enough resolution. Hololens was also recently discontinued.

        From the article, they said the hololens displays are not high enough resolution. Hololens was also recently discontinued.

        6 votes
        1. tanglisha
          Link Parent
          Oh, wow, I completely missed that. Thanks.

          Oh, wow, I completely missed that. Thanks.

          1 vote
    3. PetitPrince
      Link Parent
      When they use full robot augmentation (Da Vinci surgical system) they have @ VR console. It's nice that they have some sort of middle ground with those consumer AR/VR stuff (also, probably...

      I actually thought surgeons were using this kind of tech already for laparoscopic stuff

      When they use full robot augmentation (Da Vinci surgical system) they have @ VR console.

      It's nice that they have some sort of middle ground with those consumer AR/VR stuff (also, probably significantly cheaper).

      2 votes
  2. [7]
    patience_limited
    Link
    I've watched surgical procedures, and known a couple of surgeons who had to retire to teaching due to hand and neck repetitive stress injuries. The delicate, cramped positioning they undergo keeps...

    I've watched surgical procedures, and known a couple of surgeons who had to retire to teaching due to hand and neck repetitive stress injuries. The delicate, cramped positioning they undergo keeps getting worse with each new iteration of arthroscopic and robotic instrumentation, scopes, and tooling.

    I'm making my own experiment with AR/XR augmented glasses for ergonomic reasons next week. Hiking around a hospital leaning over laptop-sized displays on a cart for days is bloody awful, leading to the same kind of hand and neck problems.

    Review to come; initial testing is promising enough that I'll probably spring for prescription lenses to perfect the text display (reviews on productivity use are mixed because the in-built myopia correction isn't enough alone for many glasses-wearers). I can totally see this technology growing for uses other than entertainment, and the lack of cameras or microphones is positive in my judgement.

    12 votes
    1. [5]
      Plik
      Link Parent
      Random unasked for advice, check out drone FPV goggles and how they handle prescription lenses. Might provide some inspiration.

      Random unasked for advice, check out drone FPV goggles and how they handle prescription lenses. Might provide some inspiration.

      7 votes
      1. [4]
        patience_limited
        Link Parent
        The issue with drone FPV goggles is excessive immersion. I needed a semi-transparent mode because I won't be stationary and I still have to see some aspects of the real world (not least to keep...

        The issue with drone FPV goggles is excessive immersion. I needed a semi-transparent mode because I won't be stationary and I still have to see some aspects of the real world (not least to keep from bumping into people and objects).

        5 votes
        1. [3]
          Plik
          Link Parent
          I meant just for the myopia issue, a good pair usually has the option of adding prescription lenses, so I'd imagine a similar mounting method might work in your situation.

          I meant just for the myopia issue, a good pair usually has the option of adding prescription lenses, so I'd imagine a similar mounting method might work in your situation.

          2 votes
          1. [2]
            patience_limited
            Link Parent
            This particular device has a dedicated prescription lens mounting with vendor support, at a cost of ~$100 USD. I've got moderate astigmatism in one eye and can't get crisp text with the built-in...

            This particular device has a dedicated prescription lens mounting with vendor support, at a cost of ~$100 USD. I've got moderate astigmatism in one eye and can't get crisp text with the built-in myopia adjustment dials alone. If the use case pans out during the upcoming trip, I'll probably get the lenses and use the AR glasses for day-to-day productivity as well.

            3 votes
            1. redwall_hp
              Link Parent
              It makes sense that the myopia adjacent wouldn't help, since it's a different kind of optical correction for astigmatism: cylindrical instead of spherical. The angle of the distortion is a large...

              It makes sense that the myopia adjacent wouldn't help, since it's a different kind of optical correction for astigmatism: cylindrical instead of spherical. The angle of the distortion is a large part of it.

              I got glasses this year because of astigmatism—apparently glowing blue signs being illegibly blurry at night or street lights having big diagonal streaks isn't normal—despite having near to no myopia. But I'd been having eye strain a bit at work, where I stare at glowing text in an IDE all day. It's weird how you can't really tell that text, at any distance, has a slight fuzzy aura around it, until you get corrective lenses. Also weird that people end up assuming you have myopia.

              5 votes
    2. first-must-burn
      Link Parent
      Definitely interested in your feedback on these for computer use. I'd love to be able to travel with a laptop and have three monitors anywhere I go.

      Definitely interested in your feedback on these for computer use. I'd love to be able to travel with a laptop and have three monitors anywhere I go.

  3. WrathOfTheHydra
    Link
    I get the program is made for testing new technological integrations into surgeries and this was proof-of-concept research, but... if anything is going to put surgeons into retirement, it'll be...

    I get the program is made for testing new technological integrations into surgeries and this was proof-of-concept research, but... if anything is going to put surgeons into retirement, it'll be the weight of the Vision Pro on their necks. Maybe the vision pro is better for the hand-to-AR control, but they definitely need to get Meta on a slight more robust version of their Pro line (as much as I hate that company) as that will be far cheaper even in medical pricing.

    7 votes
  4. Omnicrola
    Link
    I think the Metaverse hype from a few years ago is disapating and we're starting to see the use cases that XR actually is a good solution for. Various medical fields is one of them. Some of the...

    I think the Metaverse hype from a few years ago is disapating and we're starting to see the use cases that XR actually is a good solution for. Various medical fields is one of them.

    Some of the most exciting proposals that get pitched to my department are for integrating XR into teaching medical students. Being able to overlay medical scans or diagrams on practice mannequins or real people is incredibly helpful for learning complex anatomy and practicing procedures. They were the only ones on campus making heavy use of Hololens for this reason, and Microsoft canning the product was a huge blow to that. The AVP definitely has promise as a replacement, but we haven't yet actually tried anything with it yet.

    5 votes