ImmersiveTouch Mission Rehearsal® Used to Plan Separation Surgery for Conjoined Twins

CHICAGO, Sept. 05, 2017 -- Surgeons at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, India have used the ImmersiveTouch Mission Rehearsal® virtual reality (VR) surgical platform to prepare for an extremely rare surgical procedure to separate craniopagus twins who are fused together at the head. Since 1952, only about 50 attempts have been made to separate such twins across the world, with the success rate below 25%. To separate the twins, surgeons created a phased in surgical plan. The first stage of the surgery was successfully completed and involved creating an alternative venous channel, expanding the skin and then separating the brain. The second phase will involve complete separation and skin closure.

Mission Rehearsal®

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/88dc3b32-a09c-4bb7-a1d1-7a063621e0b3

ImmersiveTouch VR technology was used to convert traditional CT, MRI and angiogram imaging into a 3D virtual environment that allowed the surgical team to see inside the brains and vascular structure of the twins to plan the surgery. Using HTC Vive VR headsets and haptic robots that replicate the surgical touch and feel of a medical device's interaction with patient anatomy, surgeons were able to immerse themselves into a 3D virtual operating room.

“We could see, feel and study connected tissue, discuss anatomy, and examine surgical pathways,” said Dr. Deepak Gupta, Professor of Neurosurgery, AIIMS. “Our team of roughly forty doctors from pediatric neurosurgery, anesthesia, plastic surgery and cardiovascular sciences used the Mission Rehearsal® platform to practice the surgery multiple times and plan the most effective surgical roadmap.”

Pediatric neurosurgeons Dr. Ashok Mahapatra, Director of Neurosurgery at AIIMS, and Dr. Deepak Gupta, who led the team of surgeons, thanked ImmersiveTouch for the valuable pre-surgical insight rendered by Mission Rehearsal®, saying “God bless you”.

“The Mission Rehearsal® 3D virtual reality environment is a vast improvement over the distortions of x-rays and other traditional imaging that can misrepresent the challenges inherent in the patient’s anatomy,” said ImmersiveTouch CEO Dr. Pat Banerjee who led the Mission Rehearsal® team. “It removes much of the guesswork in advance and provides surgeons with a new, more informed and visualized plan of care.”

For more information on this breakthrough technology: www.immersivetouch.com.

Contact: Jay D. Banerjee, Chief Operating Officer,
[email protected]   630-319-0696