Impact of virtual reality for surgery planning: examples for breast cancer surgery and in the management of aneurysms of the mesenteric, renal and celiac trunk arteries

Virtual reality and stereoscopic displays have piqued interest for creating 3D medical images. Surgeons rely on such imagery, but it's often complex to interpret, leading to errors and delays.

While most 3D medical imaging relies on segmentation, AVATAR MEDICAL technology offers volumetric rendering, preserving critical data. It allows the creation of stereoscopic VR representations from the raw DICOM data in seconds.

Professor Fabien Reyal's work at the Institut Curie demonstrated how AVATAR technology improves breast cancer surgery preparation using MRI, saving time and reducing errors. This research was published in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics in 2021.

Professor Dominique Fabre at Hospital Marie Lannelongue showed the quantitative impact of AVATAR technology on vascular surgeons' decision-making. They compared it with standard 3D on screen with segmentation for aneurysms in abdominal arteries. The results revealed differences in identifying efferent arteries in 7 of 29 cases and in the choice of surgical approach in 4 of 29 cases.