THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBING
Weekly Brief
Be first to read the latest tech news, Industry Leader's Insights, and CIO interviews of medium and large enterprises exclusively from Healthcare Tech Outlook
Dr. Jia Luo, Vice President of Engineering and Dr. Prashant Banerjee, CEO, ImmersiveTouch Inc
The roots of this technological breakthrough date back to the early 1990s at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where Prashant Banerjee, Ph.D, CEO of ImmersiveTouch, Inc. (ITI) began his research in virtual reality that eventually led to the founding of the company in 2005. Banerjee envisioned new, cutting-edge virtual reality technologies and services that support physicians and their patients for a better surgical outcome. Today, ImmersiveTouch Inc. provides a suite of solutions for surgical planning, patient engagement and surgery skills training using virtual reality. Combining patient-specific 2D and 3D visual data, ImmersiveView provides a unique VR experience that aids surgeons and medical imaging specialists in optimal planning of surgical cases, enables patients to better understand their treatment and helps surgeons in training improve their skills using patented haptics. “ImmersiveView helps physicians fully explore and understand their patients in 3D pixel by pixel, enabling them to do what they do even better,” said Banerjee. “We have heard from users that ImmersiveView is a game changer, and we’re confident it will continue to revolutionize surgical practice, helping lead to fewer surgical errors and complications.”
ITI’s ImmersiveView platform is offered as a value-added service to physicians. The platform is hardware agnostic and compatible with HTC VIVE, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality.
Early adopters of ImmersiveView remark that the technology delivers pinpoint accuracy in surgical planning along with a reduction in OR times, fewer complications, shorter hospital stays and quicker recovery times while boosting physician confidence. Physicians have to simply upload a DICOM dataset through ITI’s intuitive web portal and they receive a 3D virtual reality model within their desired schedule. ImmersiveView is highly intuitive, allowing the physician to grab, turn, expand and explore the VR model of the patient to evaluate procedural options and plan the surgery. With the touch of one button (which can be adjusted for right- and left-handedness), the user can:
• Measure
• Draw
• Cut
• Overlay and move a 2D scan of the patient anywhere in the image
• Better visualize specific parts of the anatomy by enabling transparency of tissues, such as bones, organs or blood vessels
• Take a picture and save it to the computer for later reference
In one instance, a renowned craniofacial pediatric surgeon, Pravin K. Patel, MD, operated on one of his patients who was suffering from an abnormal enlargement of a joint fused inside the skull preventing the brain’s development and growth. With the help of ImmersiveView, the doctor was able to gather necessary information with 3D VR. This allowed him to simulate the entire surgery process in an immersive manner.
“Even though we could see the 3D anatomy, we could never interact with it–we were always trapped in a 2D surface. ImmersiveView allows us to cross that glass barrier into the other side, into a different universe where we can touch and work with the anatomy,” said Pravin K. Patel, M.D., chief of pediatric plastic and craniofacial surgery at both the University of Illinois Heath & Medical Science Center and Chicago Shriners Hospitals for Children. “It’s easy to learn and simple to use and has made a significant difference in the way I approach patient care.”
Company
ImmersiveTouch Inc
Management
Dr. Jia Luo, Vice President of Engineering and Dr. Prashant Banerjee, CEO, ImmersiveTouch Inc
Description
One of the leading medical imaging solution providers, ImmersiveTouch provides a suite of solutions for surgical planning, patient engagement, and surgery skills training using innovative virtual reality technology. ImmersiveTouch is founded by a group of surgeons and engineers in 2005, offering the next generation of medical VR software. After getting the clearance from the FDA for VR platform, the surgeons are planning complex surgical cases using this platform. Hospitals are enhancing the patient experiences, and residents are better conceived for surgery with the surgical simulators of the company. The ImmersiveView Surgical Planning (IVSP) platform of the company transforms 2D patient scans into high-fidelity 3D VR models for visualization that provides a whole range of tools for surgeons to plan their surgeries.
ImmersiveTouch Inc News
ImmersiveTouch Wins FDA Clearance for Breakthrough Augmented Reality Surgical System
CHICAGO - ImmersiveTouch Inc.,announced today that its groundbreaking augmented reality (AR) technology platform, ImmersiveAR, has received 510(k) clearance for clinical use in the operating room by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Chicago-based company will commence immediate commercialization of the platform in the United States.
ImmersiveAR is a natural extension of ImmersiveTouch’s AI-powered suite of virtual surgical planning products and services, which are already significantly improving CMF surgeries by reducing the traditional pre-operative planning workflow from seven days to just minutes. Surgeons can simulate surgical changes to bones and plan the final aesthetic result, tailoring the procedure to the patient’s unique anatomy, thereby minimizing errors and complications. ImmersiveTouch technology is an accretive solution for hospitals to generate additional reimbursement from payors and lower their healthcare costs.
Dr. David Hirsch, MD, DDS, Senior Vice President of Dental Medicine at Northwell Health, shared, “This virtual reality and augmented reality imaging provides remarkably detailed images of a patient’s anatomy, helping us foresee complications and reduce both planning and surgical time, resulting in a safer patient experience with fewer complications.”
“ImmersiveAR brings a new frontier in intraoperative 3D visualization,” said Jay Banerjee, CEO of ImmersiveTouch. “The surgical field has long relied on traditional two-dimensional imaging technology to navigate complex patient anatomy. Our platform introduces advanced holographic visualization to transform how surgeons plan and perform procedures.”
ImmersiveAR allows surgeons to visualize and interact with 3D virtual surgical plans created by ImmersiveTouch or other virtual surgical planning providers, overlaid in an operating room environment for a fully integrated workflow from surgical planning to intraoperative 3D visualization. Surgeons can double-check their planned movements and reduce the need for intraoperative trial and error. The platform is designed for use in several surgical procedures.
This announcement follows significant company momentum, including strategic partnerships and a growing presence in leading hospitals. ImmersiveTouch has served over 4,000 patients, demonstrating its impact on the healthcare sector.