Release date: 2016-10-08
In May of this year, there was a news that shocked the world. A top Italian neurologist named Sergio Canavero was ready to have a spinal muscular atrophy at the end of 2017. The Russians are doing "head-changing". It is worth noting that this operation will use the most popular VR technology.
It is not known how Sergio Canavero will use VR during surgery, but the medical industry and VR "hook" together have a long history. The sci-fi film "Magic Journey", released in 1966, describes several doctors who even reduced the size of a submarine to less than a millimeter into a scientist's blood vessels to view and repair his brain. Today, the scenes in science fiction movies have finally come true.
At the end of September, the University of Oxford released a groundbreaking study that used VR technology to simulate crowded subways and elevators to improve the condition of people with confined space phobias.
The principles behind this treatment technique are actually not new. In theory, if you are afraid of something that is not really harmful (such as social phobia, spider phobia, etc.), then the doctor will let you gradually touch this kind of thing, slowly let you become used to it, until You can face this kind of thing without any pressure. Although some patients have received such treatment before (for example, for a socially feared patient, the doctor may let him chat with three strangers in a course of treatment), but the advantage of VR is that it can simulate some difficult to move into the treatment room. Scenes (such as those who are afraid of flying, those who are afraid of spiders), and therapists can use their experience to guide patients in a VR environment.
Obviously this is not a new treatment, but with the rise of VR helmets such as Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, VR devices are becoming more affordable, and the possibility of large-scale adoption of this treatment has become more The bigger it is. For example, Firsthand has developed a number of VR applications over the past 20 years, from mitigating spider phobia to cultivating good oral hygiene habits for children.
Here are some other uses of VR in the medical field:
Use VR to relieve phantom limb pain
The medical profession is still not fully aware of the causes of phantom limb pain, but two-thirds of amputees are affected by phantom limb pain. In short, they feel that they have lost part of their body's severe pain, sometimes to the point where they can't sleep and affect their daily lives.
Dr. Max Ortiz Catalan of Chalmers University has greatly improved the symptoms of phantom limb pain in Swedish amputee Ture Johanson. Johnson lost half of his right arm in a car accident. The doctor asked Johansson to play an AR game in which the patient can use real-world motion to control the motion on the screen.
“There is a point that after the patient’s amputation, the 'body map' in the brain changes. This means that the amputee (whether it’s the limbs, the breasts, or the nose) may have phantom limb pain. Therapy is to restore the original map in the brain and let the patient use the missing limbs to get rid of the pain," Dr. Catalan said.
VR can be an effective painkiller
VR not only brings you an immersive feeling, but also distracts you from the constant pain. An example is distracting burners when they change bandages. Firsthand's "SnowWorld" is a very simple game that allows burners to concentrate on the game and forget the real world around them. “Because a large part of the pain is psychological, psychotherapy can be used to alleviate the suffering of patients,†said Hunter Hoffman, the creator of SnowWorld.
This game is very simple, because burn patients are more difficult to concentrate on when playing complex games. The effect of "SnowWorld" seems to be really good. One patient said, "When I was playing SnowWorld, I didn't think about the pain at all. Sometimes I feel completely painless. In other cases, I feel a little pain, but in most cases I don't feel any more. It hurts."
Using VR to improve the condition of patients with PTSD
Patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experience a “flashback†of previous traumatic events, causing severe anxiety. For example, the terrible scene on the battlefield may flash back in the minds of some veterans, and the images of the attacks will flash back in the minds of some victims. The scene that triggers anxiety is not necessarily the same as the traumatic situation: for example, veterans may trigger battlefield memory when passing through crowded streets, which is one of the reasons why PTSD can seriously affect patients' lives.
Some preliminary studies have produced useful results. As an example, the game "Almighty Warrior" has a virtual environment called "Virtual Iraq", which allows veterans to relive battle scenarios in such a safe environment, allowing them to better cope with potential trigger conditions in the real world.
Provide a controlled virtual environment for alcoholics patients
A study conducted in South Korea shows that virtual environments can be an important part of a therapy. The researchers asked participants to face three virtual environments: one was a relaxation area, the second involved high-risk scenes, where almost everyone was drinking, and the third showed “someone because they drink too much alcohol. Feeling uncomfortable, sound and smell."
In studying this therapy, the researchers found that the participants' brains were less sensitive to alcohol stimuli. However, only 12 people participated in the study, and it is necessary to expand the scope of the study in order to draw effective conclusions.
Use VR to improve amblyopia
Unlike the previous ones, this is not the result of peer-reviewed research, but a VR experiment conducted by James Blaha himself.
Buha is a patient with amblyopia and has no feeling of depth. He uses the Oculus VR development kit (which can provide screens for both eyes) to train the eye with a higher degree of amblyopia. Now he can feel the three-dimensional scale of the object, even though his age is a bit too large, the training consumes The time is long.
He raised $20,000 to create a Vivid Vision game that hopes to help other patients achieve similar improvements.
Using VR to provide social cognition training for people with autism
In one study, researchers at the University of Texas used a virtual environment to help young autistics practice social skills, such as interviews, blind date, or meeting new neighbors. VR exercises can help these young people understand social cues, understand people's extraneous voices, and express their opinions in a way that is consistent with social conventions.
“After 10 VR-SCT interventions, their ability in these areas has been significantly enhanced,†the paper writes.
If the sales situation of VR helmets is good, they are likely to gain large-scale popularity. Maybe one day, doctors using VR helmets like the Oculus Rift will become as natural as using a stethoscope and a needle.
Source: VR dimension
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