HEALTH

Virtual reality surgery offered at JFK Medical Center

Susan Bloom
Correspondent

EDISON - South Plainfield resident Tamara Mangum wasn’t sure what was causing the mini strokes she was experiencing, but she knew she needed to find out. 

After undergoing extensive testing at the Neuroscience Institute at JFK Medical Center here in December, she was diagnosed with Moyamoya disease, a rare condition in which blocked arteries at the base of the brain cause constricted blood flow.

The diagnosis was hard to grasp for Mangum, a busy entrepreneur who owns the full-service staffing firm Sharpened Image in Union and is an associate faculty member at Strayer University. Thankfully, her medical team had just the right tool to help her understand the gravity of her condition.

During a meeting with Dr. Thomas Steineke, a surgeon and chairman of the Neuroscience Institute, the neurological research and treatment arm of the regional health care network, Mangum said, “He put images of my brain into a 3D imaging system that enhanced all of my blood vessels and allowed me to see exactly what he was seeing." 

The technology, which enables patients to take a virtual tour of their own anatomy, is available exclusively in New Jersey at the Neuroscience Institute.  

“He helped me absorb my diagnosis and demonstrated exactly how he would be doing my surgery step by step," Mangum said. "It was a virtual reality simulation that brought me some calm and helped put my mind at ease.”

Dr. Thomas Steineke, chairman of the Neuroscience Institute at JFK Medical Center in Edison, walks a patient through a tour of their own anatomy using Virtual Reality Medical Visualization technology provided by Surgical Theater.  The Neuroscience Institute is the only center in New Jersey to offer cutting-edge virtual reality surgery.

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A breakthrough tool

Created by Surgical Theater, a company with expertise in using simulation skills to redefine medical imaging and visualization capabilities, the new 3D system delivers a range of benefits to doctors and patients alike.

“One of our main challenges is dealing with patients who have a life-threatening condition but feel fine, like Tamara,” Steineke said. “Convincing them that they need to have dangerous, delicate surgery can be a heavy lift, especially with our previous 2D scans, which were missing a dimension and made it hard to show patients the big picture.”

Thanks to the imaging platform created by Surgical Theater, Steineke said, "The 360-degree virtual reality environment enables you to show patients their skull, blood vessels, and normal versus abnormal tissue, with vessels that appear just as real onscreen as when we’re operating. The technology helps us convey a patient’s exact condition to them and demonstrate how we’re going to address it during surgery, bringing it to life for them using their own anatomy.”

Steineke said that by donning a virtual reality (VR) headset, a VR-empowered physician and patient can tour the patient’s pathology, walking into the space between vascular structures and standing between arteries and the tumor or aneurysm. By simply turning their head from side to side, patients can further explore their anatomy as the surgeon explains and demonstrates the planned surgical path.

“This 360-degree visual representation gives patients and their families an informative and deep understanding of their condition by visually answering questions about surgical approaches and other medical concerns,” Steineke said. 

As for surgeons like himself, he noted, “The technology adds a level of precision that we didn’t have with previous 2D platforms and enables us to practice and better plan surgeries in advance, which ultimately leads to safer operations and improved outcomes.

“In the virtual reality environment, you can show patients their tumor and how it’s affecting surrounding nerves or tissue,” Steineke continued. “In Tamara’s case, these insights gave her the confidence that the surgery was the right thing to do even though she physically felt fine. Overall, Surgical Theater’s technology helps enhance navigation capabilities and precision for surgeons on the operative planning side while also promoting patient engagement, which helps patients better understand their own anatomy and pathology.”

The innovative technology originally was a platform for cutting-edge fighter jet flight simulation.

Steineke described it as an ideal and invaluable tool for any condition that affects the normal anatomy of the brain and all conditions that require surgeons to access hard-to-see, difficult-to-reach recesses. 

“With our aging population, cerebrovascular disease and brain tumors are becoming more common, so the availability of this technology will positively impact a significant number of patients,” he said.

Dr. Thomas Steineke, chairman of the Neuroscience Institute at JFK Medical Center in Edison, walks a patient through a tour of their brain using Virtual Reality Medical Visualization technology provided by Surgical Theater.  The Neuroscience Institute is the only center in New Jersey to offer cutting-edge virtual reality surgery.

Removing the Mystery

That’s been the case for Mangum, who underwent a successful 10-hour surgery at JFK Medical Center on Jan. 8, was released from the hospital a week later and is making an excellent recovery.

“I think that doctors should use this kind of virtual reality with all patients to help them understand what’s happening and what to expect,” Mangum said. “As an educator myself, I strongly believe in simulation-based learning and Surgical Theater is a great way to demonstrate the exact procedure that will be undertaken so that patients and their family members won’t be so fearful. It helps add color to the experience, fill in missing puzzle pieces, and take the mystery out of the process.”

Mangum's sophisticated procedure involved a bypass on the left side of her brain to provide more blood flow and prevent a devastating stroke, and can only be performed by a few health centers nationwide. JFK brought on the Surgical Theater technology in January 2018.  

“The VR technology made it easy to explain the operation to Tamara and she’s doing very well,” Steineke said. "The blood vessels on her left side will eventually mature and return blood flow to her brain to near-normal levels and her prognosis is excellent." 

Steineke said he's excited about the promise it holds for those dealing with neurological and other conditions, and believes that VR technology can be extended to thoracic and abdominal surgeries as well..

“It’s quite impactful for surgeons who have embraced it,” Steineke said of the VR technology. "As we continue to move to surgeries that are as minimally-invasive as possible, Surgical Theater allows us to plan our procedures beforehand, fine-tune our techniques and approaches, and ultimately make surgery safer and more precise.”

The Neuroscience Institute at Hackensack Meridian Health JFK Medical Center is at 65 James St. in Edison and can be reached at 732-321-7010 or jfkmc.org/clinical-services/nj-neuroscience-institute.