Role of tech in medicine

Thanks to Dr. Mahesh Kappanayil, I had an opportunity to intern at 3D printing and virtual reality (VR) laboratory at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, India. This is an unique and first of its kind laboratory in point-of-care facility in South Asia. The laboratory focuses on virtual surgery planning (surgeons planning out the surgery using VR headsets) and reconstruction (construction of body parts after a major accident). Following two examples impressed me the most and convinced me that technology can be effectively used to address complex problems in medicine

1) 3D printing re-joins fractured mandible

During my stint in the laboratory, I encountered a patient who was injured in a car accident. It was a case of fractured mandible (lower jawbone). Specifically, the lower jawbone had been split into 4 different parts. The treatment was to rejoin the fractured mandible using a jig made from the 3D lab. The 3D lab served two purposes for the patient. The first purpose was to plan the reconstruction of the mandible from bone extracted from the fibula (leg bone). This was due to the large amount of jawbone lost during the accident. The second purpose was to 3D print the mandible. The 3D print model allows surgeons to diagnose the exact type of fracture and assess the amount of bone loss which in turn helps them to accurately plan the graft reconstruction surgery.Lastly, the CAD software used in the 3D lab helped in designing a jig which the craniomaxillofacial surgeons used during the surgery. In essence, technology was vital in this whole process as it not only helped in increasing the accuracy of the surgery, but it also helped in detailed planning of the complex steps of surgery which in turn significantly reduces the surgery time.

2) From virtual reality to surgical reality

Another example during my time in the virtual reality lab was a complex case of a baby who had a congenital heart disease (heart disease from birth).

This needed urgent surgical management. Usually doctors from multiple specialities (Paediatric cardiology, Paediatric cardiothoracic surgeons, Paediatric anaesthesia) are involved in management.

Therefore, doctors from various specialities had a pre-surgery meeting. In this process I witnessed multiple paediatric cardiac surgeons simulate the complex surgical steps using the VR technology before conducting the actual surgery in the operation theatre.

The VR simulation was crucial for the success of surgery for multiple reasons. First, it helped doctors to identify potential difficulties in the surgery and plan accordingly to overcome them.

Secondly, it minimized the chances of human error during the surgery, in turn increasing the success rate of the procedure.

Moreover, VR technology plays a crucial role by allowing operating surgeon to practice the various surgical steps virtually in advance. This increases the confidence of the surgeon resulting in better surgical outcome.

Spreading awareness

I believe prevention is better than cure. Educating youngsters on prevalence of CVDs, its causes, and preventive measures can go a long way in tackling the CVD crisis for the future generations.

SHF and I collaborated to educate 600 students on heart health awareness in my school. I believe such sessions will positively shape students’ attitude towards diet, and habit choices.