34th Annual Scientific Meeting proceedings

Objectives:

For some years now, augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality technologies have transcended the boundaries of gaming; today, we observe an increase in their use in the field of medicine and especially surgery. These abstract aims to describe the first cases performed and to identify the potential of these technologies and their impact on veterinary surgical practice.

Methods:

Today, it is possible, starting from a dicom file (CT, RNM, RX) by means of 3D modelling, to create a ‘digital twin’ of the patient and, on this, to perform an extremely thorough and accurate planning of the surgery to be performed. We used these tools in two cases of vascular anomalies in dogs: a porto-azigos continuation (shunt) with aplasia of the pre- and intrahepatic tracts of the caudal vena cava, and an Aorto-Pulmonary fistula. In order to better understand the vascular anatomy we created a 3D model of the vascular compartment, after a pre-surgical study we performed the surgery by superimposing the virtual model on the patient and requesting the real time remote consultation of the radiologist who had reported the angioTc, using a AR hedsets.

Results:

In both cases the use of AR helped us to complete the procedures successfully.

Conclusions:

The potential of these technologies in the field of medicine is still largely unknown. At this stage, veterinary medicine is playing a very important role in the development of software and solutions that will also have an impact on the medical world.