Singapore's National Neuroscience Institute has partnered with VR medical content platform Kyalio to develop neurosurgery training modules.

As part of their research collaboration agreement, they have created VR modules based on real-life cases managed by neurosurgeons at NNI and captured by Kyalio. 

The modules can be viewed through an Oculus VR headset or a mobile VR viewer.

WHY IT MATTERS

During the pandemic, medical professionals who sought to learn neurosurgery in Singapore had to postpone their training as border closures prevented them from entering the country. This only compounds the problems faced by countries where there are only a few skilled neurosurgeons. Moreover, medical students and doctors in such countries "rarely" have the chance to have hands-on experience in the operating theatre.

"Many countries have exponentially increased the output of new doctors but experienced doctors who lead training in these countries remain far fewer and training methods have to become ‘high yield’ in nature," noted Samuel Choo, co-founder of Kyalio.

The VR modules developed by the NNI and Kyalio support the continuing education and upskilling of those medical doctors and students by providing them with a simulated experience of various neurosurgical procedures.

"This allows them to experience the important steps of the operation, hear discussions related to the procedure, and ‘look around’ the operating room to see the setup and team dynamics. The virtual reality environment also gives a realistic appreciation of the surgical anatomy, something that 2D videos cannot achieve," the NNI said in a statement.

The organisations aim to create a library of at least 100 neurosurgery training modules on Kyalio, covering a diverse set of cases. 

Currently, Kyalio has training modules in craniotomies, brain tumour resections, as well as neurovascular and neurospine surgeries, which are being used by over 1,000 learners across Southeast Asia, India and Africa.

THE LARGER TREND

This collaboration with the NNI follows Kyalio's partnership with the National Cheng Kung University College of Medicine in Taiwan which started in February. They also sought to create VR content on various medical procedures.

Aiming to help continue clinical training during the pandemic, Japanese VR company Jolly Good partnered with the Nippon Medical School in Japan to develop a cloud-based clinical education platform that uses its VR system.

Another VR firm, Vantari VR, recently tied up with Australian tertiary care hospitals to accelerate the training of their junior doctors and trainees for critical care. It provides modules that cover 90% of medical procedures that are recommended by college guidelines.