Post date: Jun 21, 2013 4:12:6 PM
A Spanish surgeon has used Google Glass to stream a surgical operation to the internet for the first time. Dr Pedro Guillen says the technology can allow experts anywhere in the world to watch the operation in progress and offer advice where questions of procedure arise.
MADRID, SPAIN (JUNE 21, 2013) (REUTERS) - Spanish surgeon, Dr. Pedro Guillen streamed the world´s first surgery helped by Google Glass on Friday (June 21).
Google Glass, a wearable computer integrated with eyeglasses that can both record video and surf the Internet, is now available to a select few but is already among the year's most buzz-worthy new gadgets.Dr Guillen performed a chondrocyte transplant (a procedure used to treat cartilage injuries) in the knee of a 49-year-old male. The entire procedure was streamed live via the glasses, to an audience of 150 doctors in the United States, Europe andAustralia.
Guillen, who consulted live with his colleagues during the procedure, said he felt comfortable wearing the glasses.
"They wanted to know if this was uncomfortable to me. Because surgeons want to know about the comfort. And I said that it wasn´t (uncomfortable) because I fixed it like this and I wasn´t aware that I was wearing something extra. Before beginning everything is uncomfortable but once you are operating you forget the rest of things," the surgeon said.
Apart from providing videoconference capability, apps building company CEOJulian Beltran says Google Glass opens a world of new tools to surgeons as they work.
"You can see in the prism the arthroscopy and perform the surgery without having to move the head to the right. For example you can see pictures, educational videos, remember how to perform a surgery, see an x ray, consult the interaction of medicines or information you need. Everything connected to the internet," he said.
Droider, the company that developed the software used in the glasses during the procedure, say they have plans to build a software which will help doctors to check the patient´s heart rate just by looking to their faces.
Meanwhile, Dr. Guillen's patient is now recovering after the suregery.