Intelligent Health.tech Issue 06 | Page 64

D I G I T A L D I A G N O S T I C S
Hologram tech : a new dimension
While there is lots of innovation in the surgery itself , an oft-overlooked area of innovation is what happens before surgeons set foot in the operating room .
Before an operation can take place , surgical teams gather together to develop the best plan for how to approach the surgery . Termed a multi-disciplinary meeting ( MDT ), these allow clinicians to familiarise themselves with an individual ’ s medical data and surgery . But MDT meetings are incredibly expensive : bringing together a large team of experts – an average of 14 attendees , including 10 consultants – costs an average UK hospital £ 2,745,082 yearly .
In MDT meetings , clinicians must make highrisk surgical decisions based on a patient ’ s 2D medical scans , such as CT or MRI . Unsurprisingly , each clinician will formulate their perspective on what the patient ’ s anatomy looks like , meaning disagreements are bound to occur – prolonging the meeting , delaying surgery and increasing the likelihood of mistakes .
Mixed and Augmented Reality technology offers a unique solution to this challenge . Norwegian start-up , HoloCare is among the pioneers of applied XR tech , having developed surgical software that offers clinicians a new dimension to their surgical planning . By creating 3D holograms from a patient ’ s medical scans , the software
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