VR solution for personalised treatment and surgery guidance to spine surgeons

Seymourpowell and Axis Spine Technologies have announced a virtual reality (VR) solution allowing surgeons to evaluate and develop spinal implants virtually, before making physical prototypes. The solution aims to allow medical teams to collaborate more effectively, and also reduce costs and material waste.

The companies have developed a modular system which surgeons can use to assemble a personalised implant for each individual patient.

“We conceived the implant not only from a functional standpoint, but a logistical and emotional perspective too,” said Nick Sandham, Associate Director at Seymourpowell. “While modularity is a great enabler for bespoke patient solutions, we had to be mindful not to alienate surgeons with unfamiliarity, or healthcare institutions with complexity. On the contrary, we took great care to develop an elegant solution to make surgery simpler, safer, and more streamlined for everybody involved.”

The assembled implants are made up of three customisable components. This means a relatively small inventory of each can combine to create the ideal implant for any patient, compared to currently available technologies.

Craig Bunyan, Associate Director and Lead of the Creative Technology Team at Seymourpowell shared: “Using VR as the lynchpin for communication and collaboration during the design process expedited early design decision making. It also laid the foundation for an interactive VR customer engagement tool which Axis is using to showcase the key benefits and teach procedural nuances of the implant system.”

Axis and Seymourpowell aim for a system which is significantly less damaging than traditional implants of this type.

“This kind of immersive education can also have substantial benefits for patients,” commented Jon Arcos, CEO & Founder at Axis Spine Technologies. “Without any form of medical training, complex procedures and narratives can be confusing, as well as extremely daunting. Being able to articulate key messages through a clear, compelling and consistent multimedia experience will help better set patient expectations and play an important part in the future of healthcare.”

Ana Ovey