The first surgery using Stryker's SportSuite Vision app on Apple Vision Pro has been completed at Duke Health, demonstrating its potential in the operating room.
On Tuesday, medical technology company Stryker announced that a hip arthroscopy had been performed at Duke Health using its SportSuite Vision app on Apple Vision Pro. SportSuite Vision allows surgeons to view the operating room while placing digital tools, including arthroscopic and CT imaging, within their field of view.
Typically, arthroscopic procedures require surgeons to reference multiple displays positioned around the operating room. SportSuite Vision displays that information through the Apple Vision Pro, reducing awkward bending and twisting and streamlining the surgical process.
"Using spatial computing enabled me to customize the placement of key clinical information to fit my workflow and access it within the sterile field," Chad Mather III, M.D., M.B.A, the surgeon who performed the surgery, said. "This helped create a more comfortable, streamlined OR setup while keeping the information I needed in view."
SportSuite Vision received FDA De Novo authorization on July 17, making it the first application authorized for intraoperative use with Apple Vision Pro. The authorization is yet another step toward establishing Apple's headset as a practical surgical tool, rather than an experimental one.
While the Apple Vision Pro may not have been a commercial success, it's certainly popular with surgeons. When surveyed, surgeons reported shorter operating times, reduced workloads, and significantly improved ergonomics.
And it's not just hips, either. The Apple Vision Pro also assisted in hundreds of cataract surgeries in a year.
