Vision Pro demonstrated its healthcare chops recently, assisting a surgical team operating on a patient’s spine in the U.K., reports indicated. It marked the first Vision pro surgery in Europe and one of the first worldwide, undoubtedly.
Because a nurse assisting the surgeons wore the device, they could efficiently help prepare for and track the procedure.
Vision Pro assists in spinal surgery in the UK
So in the same week Apple touted powerful new health apps for the Vision Pro AR/VR headset comes news of its use in a surgical theater, according to reports in The Daily Mail and elsewhere.
The headset’s use in a spinal surgery a couple of weeks ago at Cromwell Hospital in London marked the first time the device assisted with a surgery in the U.K. and Europe, according to press materials from eXeX, maker of the artificial intelligence software loaded on the Vision Pro.
The headset’s augmented reality abilities came into play, as it superimposed useful virtual images over the operation.
Surgeons Syed Aftab and Fady Sedra carried out two microsurgical procedures on the patient’s spine. The headset used eXeX AI software to track the stages of the operation. Going forward, it will also be able to compare surgical outcomes against similar procedures.
Here’s how eXeX describes how its software works with Vision Pro in surgeries:
eXeX’s software offers nurses and technicians holographic and touch-free access to the surgical setup and the procedural guides from within the sterile field of the operating theatre, granting them access to data and visualisation that was previously never available. The platform has significantly increased efficiency of surgical delivery, with equipment and workflow accuracy, improving patient outcomes.
The ability to ‘superpower’ surgical teams
Dr. Aftab said he had never worked with the scrub nurse wearing the headset. And yeet the device made it seem like the nurse had a decade of experience.
He also noted Vision Pro surgery with AI software could “superpower” his team, likening it to a Formula One racing pit crew.
“That’s the idea — that it doesn’t matter if you’ve never been in a pitstop in your life,” he said. “You just put the headset on.”
Suvi Verho, lead scrub nurse at London Independent Hospital, called the technology a “gamechanger,” saying “It eliminates human error. It eliminates the guesswork. It gives you confidence in surgery.”
The use of Vision Pro in surgery comes amid calls in the UK to modernize the National Health Service (NHS) and embrace artificial intelligence. The $3,500 Vision Pro is not yet widely available in the UK.
