Virtual imaging technology: "Digital New Medicine" helps precision medicine

Recently, Xiong Yan, deputy director of the Orthopedics Department of the Army Special Medical Center (Daping Hospital) of the Army Military Medical University, led a medical team to independently develop MR (mixed reality) + DAA (minimal invasive direct anterior approach) hip replacement technology, which is a multi-case hip joint replacement technique.

Recently, virtual imaging technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) have received more and more attention

Virtual imaging technology will become a good helper for doctors

Virtual imaging technology represented by VR/AR/MR breaks the boundary between the digital virtual world and the physical real world, and will become a good help for doctors

Xiong Yan said: "The use of MR technology in surgery can fuse and superimpose virtual images with real anatomical structures, which is equivalent to installing a'perspective eye' for the doctor, so as to perform more precise surgical treatment for the patient

The operation performed by Xiong Yan's team was to remove the damaged part of the patient with hip joint femoral head necrosis and replace it with an artificial joint prosthesis

"Virtual imaging technology can help doctors perform operations more accurately.

As early as April 2019, the Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, joined hands with the School of Materials Science and Engineering of Central South University to assist with MR technology and completed a total laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy for an abdominal tumor patient.

On March 15 this year, the Department of Throat, Head and Neck Surgery and Orthopedics of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University performed the country’s first MR operation of esophageal cervical spondylosis combined with piriform fossa cyst.

In recent years, in addition to surgical operations, medical imaging, telemedicine, and medical/health education are all hotspots in the application of virtual imaging technology

In the field of medical imaging, the well-known ultrasound examination introduces virtual imaging technology

In terms of telemedicine, with the blessing of 5G network, virtual imaging technology increases visibility, reduces the risk of delay, and greatly improves the accuracy of remote diagnosis

In the field of medical health education, with the help of MR/VR's ability to "turn a plane into a three-dimensional", the teaching and learning efficiency of anatomy, surgery and other courses will be improved

In doctor-patient communication, doctors can display the patient's lesions, tissues and organs to patients and their families through virtual imaging technology, allowing them to better understand the surgical process

In addition, virtual imaging technology has also begun to be applied in the treatment of mental illness

Strongly combine with other technologies or usher in a larger market

"However, the current virtual imaging technology is still in the stage of research and development in actual clinical applications

Xiong Yan introduced that from the surgeon's point of view, virtual imaging technology can accurately navigate different operations, but the current accuracy in the operation is not up to millimeter level matching, and the autonomous navigation function also needs to be adjusted by the doctor during the operation

"Science and technology
empowering precision medicine is both a demand and a trend .
" Zhang Jiyang, director of the Big Data Artificial Intelligence Center Office of Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, said that although the application of virtual imaging technology in the medical field has just started, it is expected to be in the near future.
The field of medical services has brought disruptive changes
.

However, Zhang Jiyang also pointed out that the high technical barriers to innovation in the medical field, high research and development costs, and the long-standing medical habits and concepts that take time to change, have caused some solutions to remain in the clinical trial stage or the initial stage of commercialization
.
At the same time, the potential uncertainties brought by the market, the unreasonable positioning of new medical technologies by all parties, and the safety of patients' personal information may also become obstacles to the implementation of innovation
.
He believes that by obtaining user feedback in a timely manner in the integration of application scenarios, connecting virtual reality technology with medical cloud, big data, clinical decision support systems, medical robots, etc.
, may be able to open a unique door to the medical industry and welcome it.
A huge market
.
(Yong Li)