Surgeons at Sunnybrook hospital in Toronto, Canada, are using video game technology as an aid in surgery.<\/p>\n

Using Microsoft’s Xbox platform and the hands-free Kinect controller<\/a>, surgeons access medical images such as X-rays, MRIs and CT scans, without having to touch anything. Not only can many images be quickly accessed, but surgeons no longer need to touch a keyboard or mouse which always added some risk to sterility.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat this was able to do is take away that last barrier and remove the mouse, remove the interface\u2026 and now I just give it hand signs\u201d, said Dr. Calvin Law, a surgical oncologist. \u201cWe\u2019re able to control the computer without actually touching anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re always concerned to a degree that every time you move away from the operating table, every time you have to go to another area, you always put your sterility at risk a little bit,\u201d Law says. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing like minimizing the risk to absolutely as low as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previously, when using a conventional mouse and keyboard, a surgical team member had to scrub out to access the computer images, then scrub in again to return to the surgery. This could add as mush as two hours to a long operation. This time is now saved with the hands-free Kinect system.<\/p>\n

The system was created by a first-year surgical resident who is also an electrical engineer, an engineering friend, and a computer engineer. The Kinect camera sensors capture movements and gestures, and two computers and some custom hardware recognize the user and translate gestures into image access commands.<\/p>\n

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Surgeons at Sunnybrook hospital in Toronto, Canada, are using video game technology as an aid in surgery. Using Microsoft’s Xbox platform and the hands-free Kinect controller, surgeons access medical images such as X-rays, MRIs and CT scans, without having to touch anything. Not only can many images be quickly accessed, but surgeons no longer need […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":2596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[134,137],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n