Mexican Surgeon Uses VR Headset To Distract Patients During Surgery (bbc.com)

dryriver writes: The BBC has a longish story on a Mexican surgeon who makes his patients wear a VR headset that distracts them from the surgical procedure being performed on them. While Dr Mosso cuts and removes and stitches, the patient flies through a 3D VR re-creation of Machu Picchu or other fantastical places, oblivious to being in an otherwise -- for many patients -- stress inducing surgical setting. This removes the need to give patients powerful sedatives or painkillers to keep them calm and prevent their blood pressure from fluctuating. The surgeon only anesthetizes the part of the body where the surgery is performed, while the patient is absorbed in colorful and immersive VR worlds. An excerpt from the report: "The surgeon makes his first cut and blood spills down Ana's leg. She's surrounded by medical equipment -- stools, trolleys, swabs, syringes -- with super-bright surgical lamps suspended above the bed. Her vital signs are displayed on monitors just behind. But Ana is oblivious. She's immersed in a three-dimensional re-creation of Machu Picchu. She begins her journey with a breathtaking aerial view of the ancient city clinging to the mountainside, before swooping down to explore the details of stepped terraces, moss-covered walls and tiny stone huts. Mosso watches her carefully. A 54-year-old surgeon at Panamerican University in Mexico City, he's on a mission to bring virtual reality into the operating room. Mosso is using VR as a high-tech distraction technique, allowing surgeons to carry out operations that would normally require powerful painkillers and sedatives, with nothing more than local anaesthetic. He's trying to prove that reducing drug doses in this way not only slashes costs for Mexico's cash-strapped hospitals, but cuts complications and recovery times for patients too."

Comments

I could have used this ...

[CaptainDork]

... when I got my vasectomy.

Guys at work had been pulling on surgical tubing all week, making my nuts draw up into my jaw.

The doctor put me on a slab with a curtain blocking my view of him. All I could think of was that damned surgical tubing and suddenly ... ... it was a warm, sunny day and I was opening a gate of a picket fence and I was feeling very glad to be going into a cottage where my wide was waiting.

When I came to, the slab was tilted where my head was near the floor and my feet were way up.

The doctor said I had passed out. He said he believed I held my breath the whole fucking time he was working on me!

Then he tells me he needed to patch me up and we could do the other one next time.

I told him, do the other side. If I leave here, I'm never coming back.

And remove that goddam curtain!

And get the nurse to come over and talk to me.

He did all that and I chatted up the nurse with small talk.

So, this idea would have been really helpful, especially if the VR was porn and stuff.