Surgical Theater, NordicNeuroLab Partner on Next-Generation Virtual Reality Technology

Surgical Theater LLC, a developer of virtual reality (VR) based healthcare services, has partnered with NordicNeuroLab to offer the Norway-based company’s nordicBrainEx diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) processing application as part of Surgical Theater’s Precision VR enterprise-wide medical visualization platform. The addition of NordicNeuroLab technology will allow Surgical Theater to further expand the detail and immersion into relevant anatomy, functional structures and delicate tissues needed in planning and navigating surgery.
 
Working together, the two entities deliver comprehensive and immersive patient-specific reconstructions that integrate with existing neurosurgical tools and technologies utilized in most hospitals today.
 
“Partnering with NordicNeuroLab was a natural next step for Surgical Theater,” said Moty Avisar, CEO and co-founder of Surgical Theater. “Our Precision VR platform and nordicBrainEx complement each other while bringing vital imaging capabilities and valuable datapoints immediately to neurosurgeons in the clinic and operating room. This immersive view has become essential for surgical planning and navigation as well as a powerful tool for patient engagement.”
 
Surgical Theater combines fighter jet flight simulation technology with the patient’s own medical imaging studies, such as MRI and CT, to create virtual and augmented reality reconstructions of the patient’s exact anatomy and pathology. The result is the company’s Precision VR enterprise-wide medical visualization platform providing patient-specific surgical planning and education experiences for medical professionals, with VR-empowered patient engagement capabilities.
 
Today, instead of the neurosurgeon pointing out the tumor or vascular abnormality on a flat, black-and-white 2D image used in most medical facilities, the Precision VR empowered surgeon and patient can swipe their fingers across a touch screen or slip on an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive VR headset, then walk or fly through the patient-specific reconstruction during a surgical consult. With the incorporation of the intuitive nordicBrainEx application, Surgical Theater also will be able to process DTI and MRI perfusion scans allowing Precision VR clinicians to perform additional evaluations of healthy brain structures, eloquent areas, and the targeted pathological tissues all on one system. Post processed DTI scans map the white matter pathways, or tracts, in the brain between the functional centers, which is extremely powerful to visualize when planning a surgical approach to the abnormality while also preserving critical structures within the brain.
 
“Transitioning from a 2D image on a flat screen to the 360 degree, immersive Precision VR perspective is groundbreaking for surgeons,” said Robert Louis, M.D., neurosurgeon and director of the Skull Base and Pituitary Tumor Program at Hoag Neurosciences Institute. “This powerful technology is changing how we prepare our patients and perform surgery by being able to ‘fly-through’ the actual surgical plan before making the incision. Seamlessly integrating nordicBrainEx’s DTI capabilities further enhances the visualization of critical anatomy and augments decision processes which can have a dramatic effect on increasing patient safety and improving overall outcomes.”
 
Much like Surgical Theater’s platform of products, nordicBrainEx is compatible and capable of analyzing data from all major MRI vendors. The processed data and imaging can be incorporated into patient-specific VR reconstructions and saved into comprehensive reports that can be shared with patients, exported to existing neuro-navigation systems and utilized for rehearsal purposes or in collaborative and peer review environments.
 
“Like X-rays, CAT scans and MRI, DTI is quickly becoming an essential aspect in surgical planning,” said Fredrik Isdal, NordicNeuroLab’s CEO. “NordicBrainEx is designed to equip surgeons with seamless and immediate illustrations of functional tracts within the brain while minimizing the probability of error or variability in the quality of the results. With Surgical Theater, we found an ally in delivering integrated imaging solutions that were once out of reach to all but major research institutions.”
 
Surgical Theater is committed to providing virtual reality based healthcare services that bring enterprise-wide value to its partners. Surgical Theater integrates fighter jet flight simulation skill sets to redefine medical imaging and visualization capabilities that empower both patients and physicians throughout the treatment continuum. Surgical Theater’s innovative imaging platform combines and enhances multiple imaging modalities to create a comprehensive, virtual reconstruction for various levels of interaction and immersion facilitating a virtual tour inside the patients’ own anatomy.
 
With over a decade of experience, NordicNeuroLab (NNL) provides products and solutions that define the field of functional MR imaging. The company closely collaborates with research and clinical teams from both academic and medical centers, MR system manufacturers, and third party vendors to develop and manufacture hardware and software solutions that meet the needs of experienced centers while developing training programs to make fMRI easy to adopt for more novice users. From state of the art post-processing and visualization software for BOLD, Diffusion/DTI, and Perfusion/DCE imaging to fMRI hardware for audio and visual stimulation, eye tracking, and patient response collection, NNL’s products are used around the world by researchers and clinicians alike.