HOLOEYES that changes Japanese surgery with VR [Guest Contribution] | Bridge (Bridge) Technology & Startup Information

This paper is reprinted with the permissions of Discupting JAPAN and the author, Tim Romero, with the permissions posted in Discupting Japan.

Tim Romero is a Tokyo -based entrepreneur, pod caster and author.He has established four companies so far, and has led more than 20 years ago to enter the Japanese market for other companies.

He presides over the podcast "DISRUPTING JAPAN" and is deeply involved in the Japanese startup community as an investor, entrepreneur and mentor.

The medical industry is one of the most regulated and difficult areas.In most cases, that's a good thing.However, some startups have begun to innovate the medical industry.It's not a destructive change, but it's a simple, cautious, and order that improves all people's lives.Holoeyes is one of the startups.Today, I would like to talk with Naoji Taniguchi how their VR solutions involved doctors and changing the surgery method.

Tim:

What is HOLOEYES?

Taniguchi:

HOLOEYES is an AR (extended reality) tool that doctors can use to plan surgery.This system creates a detailed VR model obtained from her patient's CT scan.By using those images, doctors can communicate smoothly.

Tim:

What kind of communication is it?

Taniguchi:

One of the most important communication is surgical plan.Before the surgery, the surgeon, who is the head of the surgery, gathers doctors and nurses and explains how to proceed with the surgery.For now, doctors explain using handwritten diagrams and two -dimensional graphics.With Holoeyes, the doctor and team can see and operate the 3D model of the patient's liver, for example.The doctor can zoom in / zoom out of the image or rotate it in three dimensions to explain, "Remove the tumor here, but be careful because there is a vein behind."

Tim:

So that's it.I understand why doctors are excited about HOLOEYES.

Taniguchi:

It's definitely better than a documentation -based surgery.HOLOEYES can work with the hospital's medical record system, and doctors can show them exactly what happened during surgery using his 3D model.

Tim:

Medical equipment is one of the most difficult areas in the world, but do you need to license or approve HOLOEYES?

Taniguchi:

No.What we provide is neither a diagnostic tool nor a treatment.Holoeyes is used to record.In that respect, it is the same as when a doctor is using MS Word or Excel.

Tim:

Mr. Taniguchi's career is physics, and the co -founder Sugimoto's background is a surgeon.How to meet and decide to start a company?

Taniguchi:

My friend was an editor of a medical publisher, and he asked me if all the data that the publisher had would be able to create a new digital service.I found Sugimoto's article about medical images in my research.I tweeted him, "I'm interested in your job. Can you meet me?"I and Sugimoto met several times and decided to create a company together.

Tim:

Is Sugimoto involved in the daily management of Holoeyes? Or do you feel like an advisor?

Taniguchi:

Sugimoto is a surgeon.That is his job.But he used our system in his hospital and persuaded many other doctors to start using Holoeyes.

Tim:

Is HOLOEYES especially effective for specific types of surgery?

Taniguchi:

It does not depend on the type of surgical procedure, but some internal organs can be expressed well and cannot.HOLOEYES can model the liver, kidneys, and jaws well, but at this time, the modeling of the lungs and heart is not well modeled.

Tim:

Why is the modeling of the lungs and heart difficult?

Taniguchi:

Because the movement is too fast.In order to create a good VR model, you will be able to use such a CT scan.

Tim:

I see, I understand.Is the VR image the resolution sufficient? Medical images require very high image quality, right?

Taniguchi:

Holoeyes does not replace CT scans or X -rays.Holoeyes is like a map.The details are omitted, so you can focus on planning and learning.Doctors still need CT scans and X -rays.HOLOEYES is trying to replace illustrations used in surgical plans and anatomical textbooks.

Tim:

Earlier, you mentioned that you are designing HOLOEYES while being aware of your mobile phone.What does that mean?

Taniguchi:

I don't expect doctors to use Holoeyes on mobile phones.However, for many reasons, I want to make a system that can be moved with a cheap mobile phone.The easiest reason is to reduce costs.However, the processing and graphic ability of mobile phones has improved at an amazing speed, and many opportunities will be held in front of us in the future.

Tim:

How will it proceed? What kind of use will it be?

Taniguchi:

The most commonly used is education and smooth communication between doctors.In the long term, I want to be like her GitHub in VR medical images.We are planning to build a free VR model library for internal organs in various symptoms and medical conditions.We also provide inexpensive SaaS services.In this way, medical students around the world, such as India and Vietnam, will be able to use their smartphones at a low price.We are going to make HOLOEYES a great tool to train new doctors.

I was really surprised that Japanese hospitals and doctors were trying new startup technology.Medical care is a conservative industry everywhere in the world, but it is especially true in Japan.The other half of the Holoeyes founding team is a doctor named Sugimoto, making it easier to accept the technology.With Mr. Taniguchi and other developers in specialty, it is possible to verify products from the viewpoint of medical facilities.

Holoeyes already has two elements that most VR startups have.One is that there is already a user base that uses HOLOEYES every day in a workplace assuming the use of HOLOEYES design.Second, the user agree solves a very specific problem.Five years later, there will be no doctors who do not use a system like HOLOEYES to plan or record surgery more accurately.

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