Recently the public was shocked by a news that a top Italian neurosurgeon Dr. Sergio Canavero wants to carry out the first human head transplant for a Russian patient who has spinal muscular atrophy since infant in 2017. What’s more, the operation will use the VR, a popular technology currently.
Medical VR may create the miracle of life
The application of VR in medical fields is nothing new, not mention the possibility of this shocking transplant case. Increasingly importance has been attached to VR and it is widely used in psychotherapy, clinical practice, medical education and training, health management and so on.
 
 
1.       VR in Medical Education and Training
As old saying goes, a virtuous and skillful doctor got a benevolence heart. However, only benevolence can hardly win the trust of patients, but the treatment effects and skills. Getting a doctor to grow rapidly into a reliable and experienced medical expert is a tough problem of time. With VR, it is possible now.
 
Virtual reality (VR) typically refers to computer technologies that can generate the realistic images, sound, and other sensation that replicate a real environment, and stimulate a user’s physical presence in this environment. Learning in such an immersive environment, doctors may have to deal with various emergent cases possible.
Doctors can learn the emergent operations like examination, injection, surgery, compression of ECG by VR, as its immersive qualities may enhance their adaptability and application of medical skills.
With VR, every medical training class can be a real case. It is believed that VR can benefit more people as it promotes widely in medical fields.
 
2.       VR for Psychotherapy
There is a kind of psychotherapy called exposure therapy which involves the exposure of the patient to the feared object or context, in order to overcome their anxiety and distress. Before VR was developed, similar situation cannot be presented and the only choice is situational exposure. For instance, when treating a people of dove phobia, therapist will first present a picture of dove and induce patient to relax and confront the picture slowly, then takes out a real dove to eliminate the fear of patient. However, it doesn’t work on everyone, because some patients may be horrified and get into deeper panic and fear…So the uncertainty of this treatment method may cause a mental breakdown in those severe cases.
VR technology can improve the situation. VR devices can artificially create environments to give the patient a simulated experience. Knowing that it is a virtual world, patients will easily accept it mentally and get a better treatment effects. Apart from that, patient is able to terminate the procedure at any time if they feel discomfort or present abnormal moods.  
Early this year, the researches of London University had put this treatment method into clinical trials on patients with depression, in order to help them reduce their excessive or inappropriate guilt which is the inducement of depression. In treatments, patients have to comfort the crying children created by VR. After the first task is finished, patients will change their role into children and their voice will conversely comfort them.
This treatment method mainly helps patient to be sympathy (to himself / herself and others). According to The British Journal of Psychiatry, 9 from 15 patients said their depression improved after treatment.
 
3.       VR for Rehabilitation
The pain after surgery, the burn brought by fire, the powerless when getting hurt…the physical suffering had always been relieved by medicine and strong mind. However, all physical suffering can be well tackled with VR technology.
Human brain is easily excited by VR, and the virtual reality created is more powerful and attractive than movies and games.
We may not be able to get the direct treatment effects from VR, for example, to physically heal the sequela of stroke, relive the chronic pain, improve the physiological reaction of Parkinson’s diseases patients or reduce the persistent pain in neck… As the five sense organs are connected, like we will feel hot when we see fire (it is the connection of vision and tactual sensation). Therefore, we can design the virtual environment to catch the attention of patients and treat them. It is what I called the anesthesia of consciousness.
Loyola University Hospital is putting it in practice by using a VR game called SnowWorld to relieve the pain of burn patients. Obviously it is more interesting than common physiotherapy
This virtual world of snow and ice cold rivers and waterfalls, there are snowmen and penguins. Patients can leap in snow-covered valleys or throwing snowballs, when their attention is focused entirely on ice and snow world, away from the pain.
25 years old, a third-degree burn patient at the Austin Mackay tried the therapies, he said: "it is much more interesting than ordinary physical therapy. In the world of virtual reality, I was completely fascinated. I could barely feel the course of treatment pain of body movement, don't even know if I'm really in physical therapy. I revel in the game. "
Virtual reality can also use for healthcare, medicine production, remote surgery, remote medical treatment and so on.
When Medicine combines with VR, what miracles can be made? Let’s just wait and see.