Dr. Rafael Grossmann

At Eastern Maine Medical Center, Dr. Rafael Grossmann recently performed his first Google surgery with Google Glass in tow. It may be the first such Google Glass-equipped surgery in the device’s history – complete with a corresponding Google Glass Hangout (which wasn’t open to the public, for those looking to tune in to a live surgery when the thrill of a YouTube video just isn’t enough anymore).

“By performing and documenting this event, I wanted to show that this device and its platform, are certainly intuitive tools that have a great potential in Healthcare, and specifically for surgery, could allow better intra-operative consultations, surgical mentoring and potentiate remote medical education, in a very simple way,” Grossmann writes.

And before privacy hawks start dreaming up scenarios where a doctor records your lovely spleen without you knowing it, Grossmann is quick to note that the Glass-enhanced surgery took place with the patient’s complete consent. Additionally, Grossmann made sure that no identifying information about the patient was recorded or transmitted during the surgery – a gastrostomy, or the placement of a feeding tube, performed endoscopically — up to and including the patient’s face itself.

Grossmann set up the Hangout in advance and used it to connect up to a nearby iPad, which displayed the images he was live-streaming through his Google Glass headset.

“I was able to show not just the patient’s abdomen, but also the endoscopic view, in a very clever, simple and inexpensive way. I think that there should be ways to directly stream the endoscopic view thru Google Glass (My friend @Julianmb, also a Google Explorer, and his team of experts from @Droiders are working on that!) but this was a “Poor’s Man’s” set up,” Grossmann writes.

With no major complications as a result of his setup — or the surgery — Grossmann appears hopeful that this first, “home-made” attempt can help pave the way for future Google Glass-integrated surgeries going forward. While he purposefully picked a “simple and commonly performed” procedure for his first Glass surgery, perhaps you might be seeing beating hearts and all sorts of other Surgeon Simulator-like experiences in the not-so-distant future.

Via PC Mag