STUDIO NEXT: Source / Design / Build: Eye Tracker

THE USE OF EYE-TRACKING IN THE HEALTH

INDUSTRY

Gareth Roberts

The Surgery Scenario 1:

Imagine a new surgery room at a local hospital. In it, a surgeon sits at the controls of the Davinci Surgery Robot, looking into a monitor as he guides a mechanical arm holding a sculpel as it cuts through the skin of a patients knee. As he diligintly works to repair the Anterior Cruciate Ligament through the key-hole incision, he continuously asks the assisting reidents and nurses for feedack about the patients vitals, and from the anesthesiast to ensure everything is ok. What if he could have all of that information accessible on his screen as he worked? more than that, what if he could change modes on the Davinci Machine, re-position the camera without having to release the controls of the sculpel or clamps?

The Surgery Scenario 2:

You are now a fourth-year med student at a prestigeous school. While learning about a certain surgical technique, your class is invited to observe an operation by a widely-acclaimed surgeon in the fi eld. Unfortunately, you are in Philly, and the surgeon is in Chicago. I guess you will just have to watch a tape. Not anymore!

Instead, the hospital in Chicago has just installed the new Team-Iris suite including the Davinci Surgical Robot. Via a streeming feed, you are now able to view the intire operation from your lecture theatre at college, and are recieving the exact same view the surgeon is seeing 500 miles away. To make things better, the Chicago OR system uses eye-tracking software, allowing the surgeon to use simple eye gestures to highlight organs or even damage to arteries without ever moving his hands from the controls.

The MRI Scenario:

You are the chief radiologist at the Jefferson hospital. Your patient has just had an MRI scan completed, and it is your job to now review the scans of their brain to determine their condition. Traditionally you would sit in front of a big-screen monitor, and manipulate the scanned data with a mouse to explore the digital replication of the brain, but not today. The Jefferson has just installed the Team-Iris projection room.

Instead, you enter a large room, where a holoraphic projection of the patients brain hovers before you. Without the need for any auxillary controls, you focus on one area of the scan, and the holograph enlarges allowing for a closer inspection. But this isn’t the best angle to view it, so your gaze moves, and the scan automatically rotates. The diagnosis process has now been changed completely, and you are able to get a better understanding of their condition. Better still, the surgery team charged with operating on your patient can also view the scan in the projection room, allowing for a more informed plan of attack to be formulated.