UAE’s first holographic surgery carried out at Burjeel Medical City

A mixed-reality orthopedic operation has been carried out at Burjeel Medical City in Abu Dhabi.

The surgery at Burjeel was part of a 24-hour global surgical event involving 15 surgeons from 13 different countries. The surgeons were assisted by the HoloLens 2, the mixed reality headset from Microsoft.

The surgery involved several countries, including the UAE, France, India, South Africa, Ukraine, Germany, Belgium, Morocco, Brazil, Bolivia, Mexico, the USA and the UK. Equipped with the HoloLens 2, the surgeons in each country were able to visualise and operate surgery via hologram, share their real-time view of the surgery (benefitting from remote peers’ expertise on different clinical cases) and train their peers remotely.

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HoloLens 2 is a wireless, holographic mixed reality headset. In medical procedures, hand and eye-tracking technology detect where the surgeon’s gaze is, allowing them to operate with greater precision.

The combination of HoloLens 2 and Dynamics 365 Remote Assist app allows surgeons to share their field of view and share best practices during patient operations. The mixed reality app provides surgeons with capabilities of being able to interact with anatomical images of their patients in holograms projected in real-time, as well as having access to interactive tutorials during the surgeries.

“Microsoft is working to innovate in the interest of advancing the health of people all around the world, and technology such as HoloLens 2, with its counterparts Azure AI, Dynamics 365 and Surface are accelerating transformation across the health technology space,” said Haider Salloum, Small, Medium & Corporate director, Microsoft UAE.

“Through its AI for Health initiative, Microsoft also has a great emphasis on accelerating medical research to advance prevention, diagnosis, and treatments,” he added.