Engineers Contribute to the Future of Surgery
TEAM Lab part of innovative project to give surgeons unparalleled view in operating room
The Translating Engineering Advances to Medicine Lab — TEAM Lab for short — has contributed to a collaborative project to improve surgical procedures using augmented reality goggles.
Augmented reality, or AR, goggles allow the user to see virtual objects in their environment. In the case of surgery, AR goggles can project important anatomic structures segmented out from CT and MRI scans to guide the surgeon during the procedure. This has the potential to make the surgical procedure safer and faster. They can also be used to help educate patients about the medical care they will receive.
The TEAM Lab provided critical support for the UC Davis Health-led effort to plan, execute and verify the results of surgical procedures with AR goggles. The lab helped to develop markers that register the patient in the operating room, refined anatomical data derived from CT scans for display on the goggles, and 3D-printed anatomical models to test the goggles prior to surgery.
The technology is now in use by the UC Davis Medical Extended Reality Research Group, or UCD-MXR, which is led by Professor of Otolaryngology E. Bradley Strong. The group, comprised of physicians from the Departments of Otolaryngology, Neurosurgery, Orthopedic Surgery and Radiology, are some of the first in the world to apply augmented reality overlays to a range of complex surgical procedures.
The technology will also be used extensively at Aggie Square, where the TEAM Lab will continue to collaborate with the UCD-MXR Research Group and the 3D Printing and Visualization Lab. Together, they will form the leading research group for visualization and 3D printing in Northern California.