An Indian orthopedic surgeon has successfully performed a foot and ankle surgery while using Google Glass.
On Sunday, during a three-day annual Indo-US conference, a team of surgeons led by the U.S.-based Indian doctor Selen G. Parkeh, performed a successful foot and ankle surgery while wearing Google Glass. The operation was broadcasted live on Google website via Internet.
The conference, which was headed by Dr. Ashish Sharma, was attended by a team of medical experts from the U.S.
The wearable computer device allows surgeons go through an X-Ray image without taking his sight away from the patient. It also serves as a communication tool between the doctor and his colleagues, as well as the patient's relatives during the surgery.
"The image which the doctor sees through Google Glass will be broadcasted on the Internet. It's an amazing technology. Earlier, during surgeries, to show something to another doctor, we had to keep moving and the cameraman had to move as well to take different angles. During this there are chances of infection. So in this technology, the image seen by the doctor using Google Glass will be seen by everyone throughout the world," Dr. Sharma said in an interview with India Today.
With the use of the wearable computer, surgeries can be accessed easily through the Internet, thus, giving other surgeons a chance to give their input or opinion during the live surgery. Additionally, it could teach new surgeons of some procedures even without being physically present in the operating room.
The tech giant's wearable device is a wearable computer that follows voice commands. It has a frame and screen that sits just in front of a user's right eye and can take images and videos that the user sees.
Two thousand units of Google Glass had been distributed for testing before making it available to public. Rumors say that it will have a public debut this year for $600.
Parkeh is not the first one to use Google Glass during a surgery. In June 2013, Dr. Rafael Grossman, a trauma surgeon from the Eastern Maine Medical Center, detailed his experience in a blog. He was the first to use Google Glass Hangout instead of a video camera to capture the entire "percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy" procedure and stream it live for those who have the receiver with them.
