Apple Vision Pro helping surgeons in the operating room
Apple Vision Pro’s price and weight are of no concern to doctors in the operating room, as the spatial computing platform helps replace expensive monitors and stiff necks.
Sharp HealthCare purchased 30 Apple Vision Pros and started a Spatial Computing Center of Excellence in February 2024. One year later, they are hosting a summit to share what doctors have learned about using the headset in healthcare.
According to a report from Fast Company, surgeons everywhere are talking about Apple Vision Pro and how it’s able to make a difference in the operating room. In the year since it debuted, apps have been developed to help with education, data presentation, and more.
Sharp partnered with Zeiss to make an app that lets ophthalmologists view cataract surgery videos, and Stryker released an app for reviewing hip and knee surgery plans in 3D. There’s even an app by Elsevier that lets users view detailed models of the human heart.
Doctors were surprised by the fidelity of Apple Vision Pro, not to mention the usefulness of overlaying information during a surgery. They’re also excited by the prospect of helping with education through modeling and unique ways of viewing data.
As for the $3,500 price, the doctors say it pales in comparison to the $20,000 monitors used in the operating room. And the price coming down will only help drive adoption.
“Obviously, it’s a V1 product, and the price, for now, is what the price is,” acknowledges Susan Prescott, VP of worldwide developer relations. She said Apple Vision Pro lets doctors “do something that wasn’t possible before that just improves patient outcomes, which at the end of the day is an important part of the success of a healthcare organization.”
The weight isn’t an issue either, as any discomfort felt is nothing compared to the pain caused by the irregular postures required to view monitors in an operating room.
UCSD Health’s Dr. Broderick says that the device fades into the background during use. “It’s pretty much not noticeable when you’re in the middle of the operation,” he shared, “the learning curve is near zero.”
The Sharp HealthCare summit enables 300 doctors from 10 countries around the world to share how they’ve implemented Apple Vision Pro in their workflows. Adoption by doctors has been quite surprising, as enterprise, especially the medical field, tend to be quite slow at bringing new technologies into their work.
It’s still early days for Apple’s venture into spatial computing. New and innovative ways of implementing Apple Vision Pro into various enterprise environments will continue to arrive in coming months and years.
