The rise of virtual reality within the healthcare system is picking up with rapid speed.
In neurosurgery, the revolutionary high-tech simulation guided with a controller allows doctors to virtually navigate through the brain of a patient prior to surgery, reported Healthline. Moving through the brain, around blood vessels, doctors see a 3D image of its structure and are then able to identify aneurysms and map out tumors.
“[The platform] gets you closer to a very real experience, a very real review of the anatomy,” Dr. Neil Martin, chair of neurosurgery at UCLA Medical Center, told the source.
Virtual reality in healthcare is also being utilized as a tool for training and education, allowing future students of medicine a more visual, participatory experience that includes accurate and realistic simulations, reported Health Data Management. It is especially useful in complex medical procedures, where the risk of real-life training is eliminated but students still receive hands-on experience.
The demand for this innovative healthcare tool is only expected to grow. In fact, Global Industry Analysts forecast the worldwide market for virtual reality in healthcare to reach $3.8 billion within the next four years, according to Healthline.
