The Swiss company VirtaMed AG is launching ArthroS™, a new virtual reality training simulator for knee arthroscopy. Surgeons get the chance to practice different operations numerous times before actually performing them on live patients – just as pilots improve their skills on flight simulators. ArthroS™ is the first surgical simulator worldwide to combine the best traditional training model with virtual reality benefits.

ArthroS enters the market: The new virtual reality simulator offers surgeons training in knee arthroscopy. This is a common surgical procedure where doctors view the inside of the knee using a small camera to diagnose and treat knee problems. According to the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine, more than 4 million knee arthroscopies are performed worldwide each year.

Swiss engineers advance surgical skills

Technical advances have revolutionized treatment of knee lesions. High definition monitors, high resolution cameras, and now high fidelity simulation. After two years of joint-development with University Zurich’s Balgrist Hospital and ETH Zurich, VirtaMed launches ArthroS globally. The new RealSense^[TM] platform combines the best of two worlds: The realistic sensation of a traditional knee model with the flexibility of virtual reality. The simulator offers different training scenarios such as diagnostic tours inside the knee, meniscus repair, arthrosis treatment or loose body removal.

Same surgical instruments as in the operation room

Resident surgeons use the original instruments they are familiar with from everyday use. Sensors make the use and handling feel exactly the same as in the operation room.

Tags: Auto, Cars, Driving and Safety, Gadgets, Transportation

CBC News has learned that the Canadian military has decided to use “virtual reality therapy” in a pilot project to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

The new therapy method puts soldiers in a computer-animated situation that recreates the specific incident that left the soldiers traumatized. A therapist then helps the soldiers to work through their memories.

It is estimated that 17 per cent of Canadian soldiers who did dangerous patrols outside of their base in Afghanistan, and who are now home, are reporting symptoms of PTSD.

Dr. Rakesh Jetley says virtual reality therapy is a new and promising tool in the treatment of PTSD. (Courtesy of the Canadian Forces)

The Canadian Forces says the therapy seems to appeal to a younger generation of soldiers comfortable with video games.

The VR therapy was pioneered by Dr. Skip Rizzo at the University of Southern California. He says that “the research shows, pretty consistently over the years, that by having the person gradually imagine or be exposed in VR to events in the traumatic memories, that they’re able to process emotional memories.”

Last year, the Canadian Forces told CBC’s Diana Swain it was not convinced that there was enough research to prove the therapy could work. Now, in an email to CBC News, it says it is launching a pilot project paying “close attention to research in this area.”

The Canadian Forces points out that VR therapy is only one element of exposure therapy treatments for PTSD. Other aspects include re-experiencing the trauma through journaling, describing verbally or narrating, and producing art and audiotapes.

Col. Rakesh Jetly, a Canadian Forces psychiatrist, says VR is a “new and promising tool that provides a novel alternative to exposure therapy.”

The new therapy is being used in more than 50 U.S. military hospitals.

U.S. soldier Jason Skinner has credited the video game therapy with saving him from a breakdown after serving in Iraq.

If you have information on this story, please contact investigations@cbc.ca

ScienceDaily (May 9, 2012) — Researchers have developed a new technique which allows them to measure brain activity in large populations of nerve cells at the resolution of individual cells. The technique, reported May 9 in the journal Nature, has been developed in zebrafish to represent a simplified model of how brain regions work together to flexibly control behaviour.

Our thoughts and actions are the product of large populations of nerve cells, called neurons, working in harmony, often millions at a time. Measuring brain activity during behaviour at detailed resolution in these groups of cells has proved extremely challenging. Currently, scientists are restricted to measuring their activity in individual brain areas of, for example, moving rats, typically in less than a few hundred neurons.

Dr Misha Ahrens, a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow based at Harvard University and the University of Cambridge, worked with colleagues to develop a technique which allows neuroscientists to study as many as 2,000 neurons simultaneously, anywhere in the brain of a transparent zebrafish.

Dr Ahrens and colleagues created a virtual environment for zebrafish, which allowed them to measure activity in the neurons as the fish ‘moved’. In reality, the zebrafish was paralysed to allow the researchers to image its brain; the fish perceived to ‘move’ through the virtual environment by activating their motor neuron axons, the cells responsible for generating movement.

Zebrafish are often used as a simple organism to study genetics and characteristics of the nervous system that are conserved in humans . They are genetically modifiable, so by manipulating the fish’s genetic make-up, Dr Ahrens and colleagues created a fish in which all neurons contained a particular protein that increases its fluorescence when the cells are active. The fish are transparent and so the team were able to use a laser-scanning microscope, to see activity in any neuron in the brain of the fish, and up to 2,000 neurons simultaneously.

Dr Ahrens explains: “Our behaviour is determined by thousands, possibly millions, of nerve cells working in harmony. The zebrafish performs complex behaviors, with a brain of about 100,000 neurons, almost all of which are accessible to optical recording of neural activity. Our new technique will help us examine how large networks mediate behaviour, while at the same time telling us what each individual cell is doing.”

Using the technique, Dr Ahrens and colleagues asked the question: do zebrafish adapt their behaviour in response to changes in their environment? To do this, they manipulated the virtual environment to simulate the fish suddenly becoming more “muscular.” This served as a simplified version of what happens when the brain needs to adapt the way it drives behavior, for example, when water temperature changes the efficacy of the muscles, or when the fish gets injured.

Dr Ahrens adds: “The paralyzed fish in the virtual world do indeed adapt their behaviour, by adjusting the amount of impulses the brain sends to the muscles. They also ‘remember’ this change for a while. Imaging the brain everywhere during this behaviour, we identified certain brain regions that were involved, most notably the cerebellum and related structures. This technique opens the possibility that eventually, the behaviour may be used to gain insights into human motor control and motor control deficits.

“Our own motor control is continuously recalibrating itself in a similar way to the fish’s to cope with ever changing conditions of our body and environment, such as when we injure a leg, or if we’re walking on a slippery floor or carrying a heavy bag. The zebrafish’s behaviour is an ultra-simplified version of this and we have been able to gain some insight into how its brain structures drive behaviour. This might someday help us understand how damage to certain brain regions in humans affects the way in which the brain integrates sensory information to control body movements.”

Their work was funded by the Wellcome Trust and the National Institutes of Health.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Wellcome Trust.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Misha B. Ahrens, Jennifer M. Li, Michael B. Orger, Drew N. Robson, Alexander F. Schier, Florian Engert, Ruben Portugues. Brain-wide neuronal dynamics during motor adaptation in zebrafish. Nature, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nature11057

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.