Abstract
This chapter seeks to explore from the reflexivity approach the current state of virtual and augmented technologies in various surgical procedures, analyzing the most relevant technological progress as well as the latest practical applications that have been developed. Bibliographic, documentary, and descriptive were the methodologies of research; the information was collected from various scientific articles from indexed journals and websites, using keywords such as “virtual reality,” “augmented reality,” and “surgical procedure” in search engines. Furthermore, technological progress in various branches that include surgery is explored in this chapter, which is focused on the research and technology application of virtual and augmented reality as well as the challenges.
TopIntroduction
Although it is important, the access to surgical care has been highly uneven in the world’s population for a long time. In 2015, the number of people without access to affordable and quality surgical care increased to 67% of the world’s population (Alkire et al., 2015), a situation that has not improved with the pandemic that currently afflicts the world (Nepogodiev, 2020). For that, many entities have searched to establish surgery as an integral part of global health, in other words, everyone can access surgical care in an equitable way (Dare et al., 2014). Worldwide, surgical diseases cover one third of the total amount of diseases that are presented. To the present day, this has generated efforts to reduce the great number of people who do not have access to affordable and secure surgery (Mazingi et al., 2020).
Given the complexity of carrying out a surgical procedure, a great responsibility falls on the performance level of the surgeon, due to risks that imply to carry out a surgical intervention in a patient, such as loss of physical integrity or life itself (Hernández-Sánchez, 2017). However, the only reliable form that students have to acquire experience in surgery is to accumulate hours of practice; which is why there exists a direct relationship between the surgical experience of the surgeon and the intervention’s success in a patient (Norman et al., 2018). In addition, it is important to consider that surgeons also get older, a natural process for everyone. However, the ageing in a surgeon negatively affects its surgical abilities, so it could have serious repercussions in the integrity of patients (Speare, 2018).
With the finality to improve these procedures, various studies have been carried out during the last 60 years, and as result considerable progress have been made in important fields such as cardiovascular surgery, organ transplantation, joint replacement, minimally invasive surgery, etc. (McCulloh et al., 2018). Furthermore, and maintaining ethics in the research, researchers should focus on generating surgical innovation, in such a way that can optimize benefits and minimize damages that can appear (Birchley et al., 2020). With the exponential progress of technology and the experienced computational power during the last years, new technologies were implemented in medicine. Among these are virtual and augmented reality, immersive technologies that will be common in the medical field during the next decade (Tarassoli, 2019).
In this context, the objective of the present book chapter is to explore, from the reflexivity approach, the progress of virtual and augmented reality technologies in last years, oriented to its research and application in different surgical procedures, as well as challenges that are currently presented to a massive use of this tools in the future.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Medicine: Health science that focuses on the prevention, diagnostic, prognostic, and treatment of different health issues. Advanced studies are required for a person to practice medicine.
Anatomy: Science that studies living beings, including human structure. It covers the study of the shape, topography, location, disposition, and relationship between the bodies of which it is composed.
Simulation: The process of designing a model that resembles a real system and using it to describe its behavior, construct theories and hypotheses based on the observations, or foresee future behavior.
Surgery: Practice involving mechanical manipulation of anatomic structures for a medical purpose, is for removal or repair of any part of the body. The different kinds of surgery are classified according to urgency in three categories: emergency, urgent and elective.
Surgical Care: They occur in the post-surgical stage and consist of monitoring the patient’s recovery after a surgical intervention and until he is fit to be discharged.
Technology: Consists in the creation of goods or services oriented to the resolution of problems using a body of scientific knowledge. These inventions can use it to transform the environment, solve problems, etc.
Virtual Reality: Realistic scenes and objects environments that are generated using computer technology and generate a sense of immersion in the user. Between their main uses are entertainment, medicine, and education.
Augmented Reality: Technology that offers interactive experiences by overlaying virtual elements over the user perception about the reality and allows an interaction in real time with them.