Presenters at The Optical Society's (OSA) recent Light the Future centennial event discussed adding augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) visualization to medical technologies, such as optical coherence tomography (OCT).
Presented by Dr. Joseph Izatt of Duke University and Bernard Kress from Microsoft, the presentation discussed Izatt's recent work where he and his collaborators have reportedly been able to integrate OCT hardware into surgical microscopes normally used for eye surgery, providing surgeons with better visualization and quantitative measurements. Additionally, Izatt and his team have reportedly had success in developing stereoscopic heads-up displays that can integrate with live OCT images into a surgeon's microscope oculars.
During his presentation, Izatt reportedly believes there is potential for head-mounted AR/VR displays to be used by surgeons that would allow them to see volumetric images from any angle they choose. Kress reportedly then provided an update on where this type of technology was in development, stating products like Google Cardboard and Pokémon Go will be major players in helping to promote and familiarize the public about AR and VR capabilities.
Click here to read the full press release.
Source: The Optical Society