Rave reviews following pilot launch

The technology will provide close-up, stereoscopic 3D views of procedures in a 360-degree virtual operating room, without the sightline problems that can arise in a crowded operating theatre.

Virtual reality surgery uses Oculus Rift head-mounted display and Leap Motion tracking devices to provide trainees with a first person interactive learning experience. When perfected, this technique could play an important role in improving surgical training on a global scale. It has been estimated that more than two million new surgical practitioners will be required over the next 15 years, meaning that innovations in education are vital.

The VR Surgery project has been triggered by PhD candidate Yesh Pulijala.  A qualified dental surgeon who became aware of the limitations of conventional training, he is focussing on the use of virtual reality to train surgeons.

He is supervised at the University of Huddersfield by Professor Minhua Ma, a leading authority on the use of serious computer games for the purposes of health education and training.  She and Yesh co-authored a chapter about VR surgery – described as “an immersive virtual reality operating room experience” – that appears in a new book titled Serious Games and Edutainment Applications Vol II, co-edited by Professor Ma.