Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 11: A first-of-its-kind ‘Augmented Reality (AR) App’, was launched today by Dr Manuj Wadhwa, Director and Head, Max Elite Institute of Orthopedics and Joint Replacement to commemorate World Arthritis Day falling tomorrow.
The initiative was a part of a public awareness drive and gives an interactive platform for patients to understand arthritis and joint replacement concepts.
Augmented reality is gradually being used for more practical purposes apart from providing entertaining digital content to the users of smart devices. One such important use of AR is in the field of medicine.
“This technology is going to play an important role in the future of medicine and is rapidly gaining importance among medical professionals. The capabilities that this technology provide can be used to make complex surgical procedures easier”, commented Dr Wadhwa.
The ‘Augmented Reality App’ enables the surgeon to show the patient a composite 3D view of how the knee joint looks & moves and explain the steps of joint replacement surgery. It works on any camera enabled smart phone or tablet. The 3D knee that emerges, automatically superimposes on the patient knee itself giving an effect like the patient can visualize his own knee in 3D. As the patient moves and rotates his/her knee the 3D image also rotates accordingly, giving the patient a 360 degree understanding of his/her knee ailment and the surgical procedure, he added.
Dr Wadhwa said that the ability to instantly image the knee in 3D on top of the patient’s actual knee anatomy is very powerful for the surgeon to educate the patient by giving the patient improved sensory perception”,
“Millions of patients in India are suffering from Arthritis today and only 130,000 undergo TKR, the main reason being lack of awareness among patients. Hence educating patients is a must. They must avoid delaying the surgery since now here are newer technologies like verilast implants which can last for 30 years and hence they don’t need to continue living with pain. Knowledge is power and patients going in for a knee replacement need to understand the importance of good quality surgery, implants and regular physiotherapy”, he added.
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