Image credit: Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford University believes that with its VR
medical visualization platform the University is positioned to dramatically
improve patient engagement. Stanford Medicine perceives tremendous value in “utilizing VR across
the treatment continuum to educate patients and
families about complex treatments options.” (Please find also VR Serious Games Redefining Physical Therapy).
Pediatric cardiologists at Lucile Packard Children’s
Hospital Stanford are taking inspiration from video-game technology to leverage VR as a vital tool for providers and patients alike. The Virtual
Reality Program at the Children’s Heart Center is undergoing three VR projects that are already
improving patients’ education, health, and hospital experience and helping
physicians treat cardiac patients more effectively. All three projects are at the early stages of implementation:
Equipped with a VR headset, players may choose to explore any
of the 12 congenital heart defects displayed on a three by four paneled shelf.
This atlas of congenital heart defects encompasses a broad spectrum of
complexities ranging from a hole in the heart to defects resulting from complex
biological abnormalities. When the user makes the selection, a beating heart is
pulled from the shelf and projected before him/her.
Players can spin the heart around, view it from
all angles, observe the vasculature, choose a certain section of the heart to
observe in greater detail or even jump inside one of the heart’s chambers.
Project Brave Heart - A new study on using a VR program as a tool for “stress inoculation therapy,” which aims to help patients mitigate anxiety through cognitive behavioral therapy techniques, including relaxation and exposure. The study includes sending a VR headset home with patients who have a cardiac catheterization procedure scheduled so they can learn about the procedure and practice relaxation techniques. Although catheterizations are outpatient procedures, catheterization patients must undergo general anesthesia. Doctors find the experience can cause stress and anxiety for patients, especially if they’re young.
3-D Virtual Imaging Technology Inside The Operating Room - Uses virtual imaging technology to digitally convert computed
tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans into 3-D images.
Essentially it allows pediatric cardiac surgeons to do a virtual run-through of
the surgical procedure from inside the operating room.
There are numerous ways that care teams at Packard Children’s are introducing VR use in the hospital. The Children’s Heart Center, whose leading Stanford pediatric cardiac specialists perform about 2,000 cardiac procedures each year, is an ideal place to develop and test some of these groundbreaking VR tools, each of which address a unique component of cardiac care. Once The Stanford Virtual Heart Program is complete, there’s potential to develop a comprehensive VR education lab at Packard Children’s where patients with all types of conditions — cancer, neurological diseases, hearing issues and the need for organ transplants — will be able to learn more about their conditions using the technology.
Stanford Medicine VR Projects Background
Stanford Virtual Heart project is spearheaded by the hospital’s pediatric cardiologist David Axelrod.
The Virtual Heart’s precursor was an interactive iPad app developed in 2014 by Lighthaus, an interactive 3-D storytelling company in collaboration with Lucile Packard. The app sought to help medical trainees, families and patients better understand congenital heart disease. Its founder David Sarno — a 2013 Fellow at the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford — started the company during his fellowship to “use interactive graphics and virtual reality in education and storytelling.”
Earlier last year, after hearing about
Lighthaus’ interactive 3-D iPad app, Axelrod reached out to Sarno to ask if
he’d be interested in taking the use of technology within medical education to
the next level.
They developed the project with support with
Stephen Roth, division chief of pediatric cardiology at the Betty Irene Moore
Children’s Heart Center, the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health
and Oculus VR.
The team consists of doctors and pediatric
specialists who elucidate and define congenital heart defects, as well as
software designers and animators from Lighthaus who help animate these medical
conditions in the 3-D plane. Meanwhile, Oculus provides the hardware and rifts
used as headsets for the project.