Microscope image injection technology that incorporates VR imaging is to be implemented by neurosurgeons for the first time.

A team from Mount Sinai Health System will be the first neurosurgery professionals to make use of CaptiView, a system developed by Leica Microsystems that overlays critical data directly on to the brain using VR when viewed through the eyepiece during surgery.

“A new microscope imaging system integrating virtual reality technology is to be used in neurosurgery applications for the first time.“

This allows images of chosen objects - including original CT, MRI and angiogram datasets - to be superimposed directly into the neurosurgeon's eyepiece during microscopic surgery, as they toggle between live and pre-operative anatomical images at the press of a button.

It will be utilised in tandem with Surgical Theater's Surgical Navigation Advanced Platform, which provides advanced 3D visualisation capabilities to give surgeons an intraoperative and patient-specific 3D environment to plan and understand surgical approaches.

Dr Joshua Bederson, professor and system chair for the department of neurosurgery at Mount Sinai Health System, said: "We are driving and advancing the development of next-generation simulation and virtual reality technology, which can help improve patient outcomes and solve neurosurgical challenges."