^{Image credit: Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.} 

The neurosurgery team at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust is introducing cutting-edge, mixed reality technology into parts of their day-to-day work to improve training and patient care.

The technology allows clinicians and patients to view and interact with high-resolution 3D hologram-like images of patient scans, alongside traditional imaging techniques. It is being used to support some patient consultations, assist preparations for certain operations and provide immersive clinical training.

Mixed reality blends 3D digital content with the real world.

It enables users to interact with digital content - such as 3D renderings of patient scans - while remaining fully aware of their real-world surroundings. Unlike VR which immerses users in a completely separate 3D environment and blocks out the real world, mixed reality enhances the user’s perception by integrating digital and physical elements.

The Trust’s neurosurgery team utilises XARlabs’ simXAR mixed reality tool, which was developed independently by a registrar at the Trust when he was part of the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme, prior to joining the Trust.

During training sessions and certain patient consultations, both the surgeon and the trainee - or the surgeon and the patient - wear Trust-owned Magic Leap 2 headsets. 

The surgeon can interact with the 3D model by zooming in, rotating it, or even ‘walking’ inside to visualise the patient’s anatomy in an immersive and easily understandable way. 

Arthur Dalton, consultant skull base and vascular neurosurgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said: "We immediately saw the potential of this technology and set out to develop a world-class mixed reality suite, drawing on the expertise and innovation within our own surgical team. 

"The level of detail and interactivity it offers far surpasses traditional methods, facilitating better preparation and understanding for surgeons, trainees and patients.

"We're already starting to see benefits as we continue embedding this system into our work. The potential for improving patient care and training is huge. We believe we are the first, or one of the first, to adopt this type of mixed reality platform in this way in the NHS and hope our work can help the NHS remain at the forefront of this emerging technology. "