VR-equipped microscopy technology to be employed by neurosurgeons

Microscope image injection technology that incorporates VR imaging is to be implemented by neurosurgeons for the first time.

A team from Mount Sinai Health System will be the first neurosurgery professionals to make use of CaptiView, a system developed by Leica Microsystems that overlays critical data directly on to the brain using VR when viewed through the eyepiece during surgery.

This allows images of chosen objects – including original CT, MRI and angiogram datasets – to be superimposed directly into the neurosurgeon's eyepiece during microscopic surgery, as they toggle between live and pre-operative anatomical images at the press of a button.

It will be utilised in tandem with Surgical Theater's Surgical Navigation Advanced Platform, which provides advanced 3D visualisation capabilities to give surgeons an intraoperative and patient-specific 3D environment to plan and understand surgical approaches.

Dr Joshua Bederson, professor and system chair for the department of neurosurgery at Mount Sinai Health System, said: "We are driving and advancing the development of next-generation simulation and virtual reality technology, which can help improve patient outcomes and solve neurosurgical challenges."