It’s still too early to say that VR medical treatment is beginning to take shape.

Release date: 2016-05-26

The British Journal of Psychiatry recently published an experimental report from Oxford University. Clinical psychologist Daniel Fryman invited 30 paranoid patients and placed them in a virtual reality simulation scenario to test whether they could Relieve the patient's condition.

Judging from the results of the public research, this experiment has achieved good results. However, the application of virtual reality in the medical field is not a case. The spread of media and institutions has made people blindly believe in the infinite possibilities of this technology. The development of the situation is far from being as optimistic as we think.

·Psychotherapy is still immature, the difference in form is not equal to the content difference

VR technology is not a substitute for the already established form of treatment. In the medical field, there is still a sense of formalism. A little investigation into the research results of Oxford University is not difficult to find, there are still many experimental defects that have yet to be resolved.

1, the patient's adaptation time is difficult to unify

VR devices are not suitable for all patients. The wrong way of using them will bring negative psychological feedback to the holders of 3D motion sickness. The uneven comfort will also make patients' empathy effect in virtual reality greatly reduced. . To take a step back, after solving all the hardware problems, people need to invest a lot of time in the VR environment for therapeutic purposes.

Dr. Hunter Hoffman invented a VR game called SnowWorld to calm the trauma of some patients. After accumulating treatment data for some of the victims, the VR technique was only proven to be in the treatment of chronic pain. In order to harvest the results.

In other words, the lion in the circus can skillfully pass through the ring of fire under the guidance of the trainer, and there must be a lot of reflection training behind it. In the same way, if the simulated environment created by virtual reality can make patients feel comfortable and keep this comfortable state in reality, it must go through a long-term adaptation process, and the length of this process varies from person to person. People need to develop solutions for different patients and build the corresponding content in the VR world based on traditional treatment.

From this point of view, contrary to the original intention of using VR technology, this invisibly increases the cost of treatment.

2, data accumulation is the correct treatment

The "Sea Hero Quest" project led by Deutsche Telekom is more stable. The British Alzheimer's Institute, University College London and the University of East Anglia are all involved in the design of the game, trying to study how to treat dementia through the accumulation of data.

Considering that patients with dementia show varying degrees of decline in their thinking and memory skills, Sea Hero Quest's creative team decided to set the game's experience content to not navigate through the map, and to collect residual data in the sea by memory alone. Fragments to examine differences in brain activity between normal and patient. The VR version of Sea Hero Quest incorporates sensory detection from a human perspective, which makes data more accurate and reliable when studying people's navigational habits.

Dr. Spiers said that they did not want to create a precedent for any treatment. The data collected from the nautical heroes will become a valuable research corner, and the usual two-minute game time will replace the five-hour traditional collection. With the gradual accumulation of starting cases, doctors will eventually have a data reserve that can be consulted. VR is the mainstream medium for psychotherapy and it is not an idiotic dream.

· Early treatment of mental illness through virtual situations

Operation Supply Drop, a US non-profit organization, chose to use games purely to restore the wounded soldiers to health. Erik Johnson, the chief medical officer responsible for the project, also struggled with the persecution of the war.

After a car accident, Eric’s burned hands could hardly perform any movements. Day after day physical therapy also made him very tired, so he applied to use the game’s operation instead of daily rehabilitation training. The doctor was dubious. I only promised this request. Unexpectedly, the injury of Eric's arm gradually improved, and the depression caused by the injury was also swept away with the help of the game.

This experience has become an opportunity for the establishment of Operation Supply Drop. The organization is currently classifying the games on the market, delineating the healing effects of a certain work based on assessment and experimentation, such as training the limbs, developing brain power, relieving depression and PTSD, etc. effect. In an interview with Polygon, Eric also said that their next step is to integrate all the military facilities in the United States, providing assistance and teaching of game therapy.

However, this is not a new concept. Through careful guidance, any scene may become the target of empathy for patients with diseases. However, the introduction of VR technology is not without merit. The richness of medical media is also an important part of the treatment process.

·VR has caused a modest impact on the medical industry

The Royal London Hospital launched a live surgery event this year. The audience with VR heads can see the whole process of colon cancer resection through a special camera. The surgeon, Shafi Ahmed, has taken the treatment footage more than once, hoping that the novice doctor who just got on the road can get some help from his video.

VR technology can also simulate different surgical scenarios, and new and old physicians will have the opportunity to train their own treatment skills in a harmless environment. Narendra Kini of the Children's Hospital of Miami found some interesting phenomena through the hospital's training system. Medical staff trained with VR technology still retain 80% of the memory of the acquired knowledge after one year, while the traditional graduates lacking exercise. Only 20% of the content can be remembered.

According to IndustryARC's forecast, AR/VR's investment in the medical industry will reach $2.54 billion by 2020. Comparing the 2025 AR/VR total output value issued by Goldman Sachs, we will find that this figure is still relatively fair and has not reached the overall 5%. The current state of VR in the medical industry is indeed the same. It failed to subvert the entire treatment system as we imagined, but it still brought some conveniences that were not available.

In general, VR technology can only appear as a medical tool in our field of vision for the time being. Perhaps HTC Vive can be a standard equipment for large and small medical institutions like a scalpel, but it has not been able to create new treatments for a long time. Virtual reality needs to incite traditional medical knowledge. It may require more additional conditions. Artificial intelligence and data accumulation are all partners within the visible range. This is also the objective needs of the medical industry in the future.

Source: Material Media

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