Original article from Edge Magazine
Manipulating images using hand gestures saves up to an hour per procedure, surgeon says.
Surgeons at a Toronto hospital are using Microsoft’s Xbox 360 motion sensor Kinect to save time calling up images during operations.
The Winnipeg Free Press reports that surgeons at Sunnybrook Hospital are using open-source Kinect drivers for PC to allow them to manipulate images of medical scans – something which normally involves a meticulous cleanup operation to ensure sterility around the patient, taking around 20 minutes each time.
Dr. Calvin Law, a surgical oncologist who helped integrate the system at the hospital, said checking of images often added an hour to surgical procedures. Using hand gestures to call up, rotate and zoom in on images, Law believes surgeons can be more precise in saving, for example, healthy tissue when removing a tumour, as well as saving time.
The hospital has used Kinect in six procedures so far, and hopes to roll it out across the hospital and into other areas, such as physiotherapy.
While Kinect has been the subject of increasingly creative hacks since the device was first reverse-engineered and open-source drivers released shortly after launch – prompting Microsoft to leverage hobbyist interest with the imminent release of an official Windows SDK – this is arguably the most beneficial alternative use yet seen.
Source:Edge Magazine and Winnipeg Free Press
