A VR platform will teach patients how to control movement in their new body. The system will use HTC Vive viewers and technology from Virtuix Omni
Neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero just said he will use virtual reality to prepare his patient for his first head transplant. The training, according to the scientist, will begin several months before the surgery.
Dr. Canavero is therefore intent on pursuing his project, despite the perplexities of the scientific community, reluctant to believe that the human body can withstand such a complex operation. The virtual platform, which will be developed by the American company Inventum Bioengineering Technologies, will help the patient to adapt to the physical and psychological changes that will occur in the new body after the transplant. The first person to experience this technology will be Valery Spiridonov, a 31-year-old Russian man who suffers from a rare form of muscular atrophy, known as Werdnig-Hoffmann disease.
The virtual platform
Months before entering the operating room, the patient will then undergo a long cycle of virtual training, where he will begin to learn how to control the legs and arms of the future body.
The VR platform will most likely rely on HTC Vive viewers and Virtuix Omni’s technology, which provides a concave surface and brace for the patient to move with while immersed in the virtual world. The VR structure also consists of a cage system that will help the patient maintain an upright position.
The surgical procedure, which Dr. Canavero plans to perform in 2017, will be very complex and involve 150 scientists. First, Spiridonov’s head will be exported from his body and then reattached to that of a donor. The most difficult part will be connecting arteries and blood vessels between the body and the head. According to most of the scientific community, the risk of the body rejecting the new head is very high. At this point, if the outcome is positive, Spiridonov, thanks to the virtual training period, will already know how to control the new body.