Apple Vision Pro Speeds Up Surgery by Almost 20%

[Amazing Iceman]

A few months after the AVP launched it started to be used for Knee Replacement Surgery.

And Surgeons love the fact they can also have their notes and reference material available in their view space, nothing to physically touch that could contaminate their environment.

 

[MilaM]

My broader point is that they aren't doing "surgery in VisionOS" or really using any of the specific AVP interaction methods Apple came up with, etc.

Completely agree.

I bet there are many much more interesting use cases where the AR features actually make a difference.

 

[jwsmiths]

As an electrophysiologist I could absolutely see this being useful during ablations. I've suggested several times to my mappers that I would love to be able to stream the mapping and recording systems into my headset and manipulate things myself. Maybe someday.

 

[subjonas]

I really don't think UI was a factor in this study. I could not find any reference to what software was used to display the NDI feed in the AVP (although as I understand it, such apps exist), or any indication of how the endoscopy feed was turned into an NDI stream in the first place (it's possible I just missed it). It looks like they used it quite literally as a "floating monitor" in the surgeon/assistant fields of view. Not exactly something exclusive to AVP.

UX not UI. We don't know the ins and outs of how the surgeons use the VP, but UI is also usually a critical part of a UX. A bad UI can absolutely hinder productivity to varying degrees depending on their needs, which again we don't know. It would be quick to think we pretty much know from a photo and short article.

 

[Und Eser]

"Good news and bad news Mr Smith. 'Fraid we've inadvertently amputated your good leg... but the good news is the bad one's now recovering."

 

[JoshuaBru]

The cost is lower because equipment sellers milk the industry with insanely-high prices. And they are much higher-quality products than that sold en masse to consumers. Such medical imaging monitors have both a very high pixel density and precision colour calibration, meaning they are top of the line. Then there are cameras and computers to go along with it. Add all that together and, yes, it would be way more expensive than an all-in-one headset computer.

I'm curious how the camera images are fed into the Vision Pro headset?

I’ve been a med rep for over a decade. Let me tell you first hand that Stryker, Medtronic, intuitive, Olympus etc will never ever let Apple into this space. They’re prob already working on their own virtual headset that is so locked into their ecosystem. The only way this Vision Pro is working is via an SDI to hdmi switch box slaving up the image you’d normally see on the monitor. There is zero. And I mean zero chance any of these big med companies are going to let Apple work within their system.

 

[Sosab123]

When I got my very first BMW, back in 2014, it was a 435i they had just released the line basically a bigger 3 series with a coupe option, I modded it myself for a bunch of parts, the downpipe, intercooler, air intake, exhaust and a few other things I did on my own. The intercooler was a nightmare.

It'd be nice to be able to slap on an apple vision and see where everything comes from, and can be put back. Every screw, bolt, and even a dedicated 10mm tracker so u can never lose it again.

 

[zarmanto]

"Good news and bad news Mr Smith. 'Fraid we've inadvertently amputated your good leg... but the good news is the bad one's now recovering."

I have on more than one occasion wished that there was an eye-roll emoji under the "Like" reaction button on posts... but never more so than now. 🙄

 

[mwhite]

This is a good and valuable use for the Apple Vision Pro, and Apple should continue to market and sell the device to hospitals.

 

[jtptus]

In the surgical context faster means less time under anesthesia for the patient (i.e. less risk) and potentially less error causing fatigue for the surgeons: better outcomes. I recently underwent robotic assisted surgery. The surgeon was able to perform a complex procedure with exquisite precision and less scaring and bruising for the patient (me). Amazing technology. The AVP finding a place as a tool in surgery is great.

 

[Mr_Ed]

UX not UI. We don't know the ins and outs of how the surgeons use the VP, but UI is also usually a critical part of a UX. A bad UI can absolutely hinder productivity to varying degrees depending on their needs, which again we don't know. It would be quick to think we pretty much know from a photo and short article.

The study and the video embedded in the study do give us an idea of how it was used. What aspects of UX do you think are relevant, and unique to AVP? Maybe I am missing something but looking at the study (not just the MR post) it looks like nothing unique to AVP. They streamed a floating image in the users' field of view, which by the study conclusions, contributed to a tangible improvement in the duration of the procedure, attributed primarily to the ergonomic benefit of not looking sideways at a monitor.

To be clear, I'm not arguing there isn't a benefit. All I'm saying is that what they did with the AVP can be done with other HMDs and there doesn't seem to be anything about the AVP that uniquely facilitated this particular use.

 

[MrMojo1]

Regardless that the visors helped surgeons become more efficiently & taking less time to operate and cost relatively less than the standard medical equipment used, does anyone think that the healthcare or health insurance industry is going to reduce their billable rates, esp. to the patient?

 

[macdisciple]

Not sure Apple thought of medical professionals using this like they are now

Pretty sure it was at the top of their list.

 

[ResolutionNZ]

The saving potential of this is awesome:

View attachment 2650269

This video explains how healthcare is billed in the USA. Most people don't understand this.

 

[ipedro]

This video explains how healthcare is billed in the USA. Most people don't understand this.

Shakes head in Canadian.

 

[kcwookie]

I’m not a surgeon and I’m sleeping at home tonight. I work in a cubical and use my AVP every day all day. It has made me more productive then trying to use my lap top and external screen. Since I started this job, the laptop to company gave me is sitting on a shelf as I use this. My office is organized with widgets and reminders. There is NO WAY I would go back to working as I used to. My $4k of my own money has been well spent. Mine are pushing 3 year old and have been well used for real work. Watching TV and movies are nice but it’s much better helping me earn a living.

This product is better than Apple advertised.

 

[subjonas]

The study and the video embedded in the study do give us an idea of how it was used. What aspects of UX do you think are relevant, and unique to AVP? Maybe I am missing something but looking at the study (not just the MR post) it looks like nothing unique to AVP. They streamed a floating image in the users' field of view, which by the study conclusions, contributed to a tangible improvement in the duration of the procedure, attributed primarily to the ergonomic benefit of not looking sideways at a monitor.

To be clear, I'm not arguing there isn't a benefit. All I'm saying is that what they did with the AVP can be done with other HMDs and there doesn't seem to be anything about the AVP that uniquely facilitated this particular use.

I didn't look at the actual study, so it may have given you more insight into their usage. But just imagining off the top of my head, I'd venture to assume that the more intuitive the UI/the smoother the performance/the more stable the AR/the more high fidelity and lag-free the image and video--the better the overall experience for the doctors. It's just general UX stuff, but I'd think it all comes into play if say they need to reposition floating displays, switch between different views, have multiple displays/views open, maybe multiple apps open, etc. I'm sure other headsets out there now can do these things, but the question is if it can do them as well as the VP, or well enough that the doctors would have no qualms switching devices. I'm not at all up to date on the headset scene, so maybe the VP has strong competition now. If they're at the same level now, I didn't know. But honestly, I don't why people seem to care about this so much. My only reason for doubting your statement was that to me it seemed to make presumptions about another profession's needs, possibly oversimplifying, in my opinion very unnecessarily. But maybe you are more familiar with that profession than me, or maybe reading the study gave you enough insight to justify your statement. But also it seems like many here are itching to agree with you without having done the research. All this strong hate for a tool is just odd to me.

 

[antonrg]

Apple absolutely thought of medical professionals using it. So many keep missing the fact that it was released as a "Pro" device intentionally, because Apple was targeting these exact types of users. That consumers find this very expensive technology too expensive has only muddied its reputation. It was always intended for professional usage, such as this. And a 30-40 minute usage window is well within the neck-weight threshold.

While I get what you are saying, I think then they should have properly made it clear from the start instead of showing the average consumers how cool it is to watch films in your living room...

 

[california_kid]

I told you all that these things had a super x-ray mode! Somebody unlock this.

 

[Pezimak]

I can't even imagine operating on a tear duct! Bit kudos to using Vision Pro for it

 

[jole]

My buddy is a surgeon and uses a super advanced surgery robot he sits in a special chair for. I'm curious if something like this would ever make it to his line of work.

DaVinci 5?

While they do not publish the spec, it is likely less than half the resolution compared to AVP (~5 million pixels per eye vs ~11 million).

"Robot" itself has different benefits and downsides.

 

[citysnaps]

While I get what you are saying, I think then they should have properly made it clear from the start instead of showing the average consumers how cool it is to watch films in your living room...

Apple can and does both. As they have done many times in the past working with companies to help provide solutions to companies developing systems and products. Speaking from experience.

 

[acorntoy]

Damn, Tim could have probably charged 3.5M a pop and had more success if Apple had marketed it strictly and aggressively to the healthcare/surgery industry.

 

[ChamomileTea]

Meanwhile, Meta's glasses are mostly used by creeps to film young women when they are not aware. 😂

 

[lilkwarrior]

Surprised they can get a video source into the Vision Pro. A lot of gamers might like to output their HDMI to the headset

Wireless display output is strongly being empowered/preferred as a more ideal means for standalone spatial computing devices to provide video output even championed by gaming headsets like the Steam Frame as the ideal method.

The Vision Pro enable true 5K 21:9 and 32:9 in such a way via Macs.

Wifi standards and emerging wireless video standards are coming to enable spatial computing devices of all kinds—especially glasses—to need less wires.

Minimizing Wires during use cases like surgery is a no-brainer overall.