Release date: 2017-07-31
Professor Daniel Saltzman is a surgical specialist with more than 18 years of experience. He is the Director of Pediatric Surgery at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital.
Dr. Daniel Saltzman (Source: University of Minnesota)
He has long been used to using X-rays as a map of the human body. Of course, this map is not perfect. He compared X-rays and human structures to the maps seen on mobile phones and the three-dimensional structure of the real world. Like a map, X-rays compress the real human structure onto a flat surface. Therefore, even today, considerable trials and empirical judgments are required for difficult operations. “That’s why medicine is a science while still an art,†Dr. Saltzman said.
The rapid development of medical imaging technology in recent years has enabled doctors to better prepare for the complex situations that will be faced before surgery. Now, virtual reality technology is expected to completely change this situation, before the doctor sees the patient's body, he knows the situation well.
This revolutionary technology has recently been applied in a complex surgery and has achieved good results. Professor Saltzman and his colleagues spent nine hours successfully separating a pair of twin baby girls, Paisleigh and Paislyn Martinez, who were connected from chest to abdomen. The sisters survived healthily, and Professor Saltzman believed that virtual reality before surgery was indispensable.
Conjoined babies are a very rare phenomenon, and the probability of occurrence in newborns is about 200,000 to 1 part per million. Separating conjoined babies is a highly complex and dangerous procedure, especially for conjoined babies connected to the chest. The use of virtual reality technology has been used in conjoined babies with separate heads, but has not been reported in conjoined babies connected to the chest.
One month before the operation, Professor Saltzman and his colleague, Professor Anthony Azakie, head of pediatric cardiac surgery at the University of Minnesota, who was the chief surgeon, obtained three-dimensional medical images of the conjoined sister's heart through high-precision imaging techniques. They use virtual reality technology to enlarge the baby's walnut-sized organ to the size of an entire room and plan the surgery according to the image.
The two surgeons said that the results of this technology were completely revelatory, because they found unexpected situations a few minutes after wearing virtual reality glasses. The sisters are not only connected to the chest, but their hearts are also connected to each other. One of the small hearts has serious congenital defects, and the separation of conjoined babies is a highly complex and dangerous procedure, especially for conjoined babies connected to the chest. This means that the situation of the sisters is more serious than expected, and the doctors have to perform surgery several months in advance and completely overturn the previously envisaged surgical plan.
They realized that if the connection between the two hearts was cut off at an inappropriate time, it could cause major bleeding, and if the heart was too stressed, it could lead to arrhythmia or even a heartbeat. They need a way to carefully bypass the connection between the two hearts without harming any one heart. Virtual reality technology has shown a big advantage at this time, that is, doctors can turn the virtual image upside down to find the best solution without turning the head.
Soon, they designed a plan to completely flip the two baby girls in the original program on the operating table and enter the surgery from the opposite direction. Such a seemingly simple solution saved the lives of the girls.
Subsequent work can be carried out in an orderly manner. A team of 50 medical staff meets once a week to perform numerous exercises on each step of the surgery on two stitched dolls. Professor Saltzman and Professor Azakie used the 3D printing technology to print a model of the heart of multiple conjoined babies with the help of the Medical Equipment Center of the University of Minnesota, and simulated the models.
The doctors took the heart 3D models of conjoined twins, Paisleigh (red and blue) and Paislyn (purple) to help them prepare for surgery. (Source: University of Minnesota)
The operation was successful. Two months later, the two girls were recovering. The doctors expected that they would lead an independent and healthy life. Only the scars on the chest were used as evidence that they were connected. The doctors and researchers involved in the operation said that they will publish the case in academic journals, hoping that virtual reality and 3D model technology can be widely applied to conjoined infant separation surgery.
Professor Saltzman said: "Separating the baby is not a trivial matter, and our direct involvement in the process using virtual reality technology makes this feat even more incredible."
Source: Health New Vision
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