Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla: Medical platform for remote collaboration with RM and VR
The healthcare industry has been an early adopter of technology solutions to improve its processes. Already, many facilities are using AI or XR to optimise the efficiency of internal processes, and increased investment and technology capabilities are driving their implementation. Extended reality solutions and digital twins can provide highly beneficial solutions for medical staff and patients.
They enable real-time reporting and analysis of workplace efficiency, asset usage, patient statistics, training resources, etc., among other things.
In a commitment to the use of innovative technologies to support clinical decision-making by healthcare professionals, LINA has been created, a virtual and mixed reality-based tool aimed at supporting surgical planning and connecting doctors from all over the world.
The Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital is a third level centre and a benchmark in Spanish healthcare for highly complex pathologies and procedures. It has its own innovation unit, the Valdecilla Virtual Hospital, which has opted for clinical simulation to train medical professionals in all types of specialties, becoming a national and European benchmark.
The first challenge we faced was that Hospital de Valdecilla lacked a cloud infrastructure that could meet the demands of the platform.
On the other hand, a connection had to be made between the web and the mixed reality glasses, and this had to be done in a user-friendly way. In addition, security had to be guaranteed for sensitive data such as medical information.
The process
Given the need to create a scalable tool with a global reach, we chose to base it on .NET technology and Azure as cloud infrastructure. This has allowed us to create a connection between the web and the HoloLens 2 or Meta Quest glasses in a simple way for the user and with the necessary guarantees, in terms of regulations and security, for the processing of such sensitive medical data.
The solution is based on the latest developments in mixed reality and cloud computing.
From the web portal, doctors can communicate with their counterparts or send information directly to the glasses, which facilitates the preparation of any surgical intervention in a collaborative manner and with greater precision. In addition, all information can be accessed from the operating theatre, so that the practitioner can access information and images in a natural way and interact with the holograms through gestures without losing sight of the real environment.
Development with Evergine, Azure WebAssembly, HoloLens2
Platform for clinical decision support.
“LINA is a platform that gives a new dimension to professionals when planning interventions before the day of surgery and as a support resource during the course of these interventions”.
Ignacio del Moral, Director of Valdecilla Virtual Hospital
Results
- Planning of surgical interventions, including complex interventional techniques through mixed reality. – Improving clinical decisions.
- Reducing uncertainty and guaranteeing patient safety.
- Scalable tool for new specialties and hospitals, both nationally and internationally.
- Forthcoming developments of new features and functionalities that provide more data and allow more personalised and tailored decisions to be made for each case.
- Opening of a new paradigm for the sector.
We are ready for new challenges
