The development of minimally invasive surgical approaches to complex vascular pathologies benefits from advanced tools such as virtual and augmented reality. In the Department of Biomedical Engineering (DBE) of the University of Basel under the guidance of Prof. Philippe Cattin, a state-of-the-art virtual reality software package was developed and integrated into clinical practice (SPECTO medical). In a joint project between the Neurosurgical Department of the University Hospital of Basel under the guidance of Prof. Raphael Guzman and the DBE this technology is used to advance the surgical treatment of cerebrovascular anomalies such as cerebral aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations.

We aim to advance the integration of this technology from the computer lab to the OR. It allows us to perform individualized patient specific and high precision planning of surgical interventions. In the next generation of this computer application we can integrate virtual surgical instruments and devices further improving our surgical planning capabilities.

Pictures show: Intraoperative virtual and augmented reality simulation with automated hand gesture recognition through “Hololens” (on the left) and: Preoperative simulation of a mini craniotomy and placement of the aneurysm clip (on the right).

The collaboration allows ongoing customization of the hard- and software not only to answer upcoming questions in the field of neurovascular surgery but also to enhance resident teaching as well as patient communication. Multiple studies have already been published, and new exciting projects are currently running.