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Alberta researchers combine X rays, virtual reality for new medical treatments

A University of Alberta team has come up with a way to combine medical imaging with virtual reality to help clinicians locate and understand what's happening inside their patients' bodies as they treat them. A demonstration of the virtual reality goggles is seen in an undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Rehab Robotics Lab, Greg Kawchuk

No, they’re not X-ray specs.

But a University of Alberta team has come up with a way to combine medical imaging with virtual reality to help clinicians locate and understand what’s happening inside their patients’ bodies as they treat them.

READ MORE: Alberta scientists develop memory potentially exceeding hard drive capacity 1,000-fold

Greg Kawchuk and his colleagues have figured how to allow doctors or other medical professionals to see a patient’s X-ray and their body at the same time.

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The clinician sees the X-ray through a set of commercially available virtual reality goggles.

READ MORE: University of Alberta research could prevent app updates from draining smartphone batteries

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He or she can line that image up with the patient in front of them, allowing them to get a much more precise idea of where the problem is and what it might be.

Kawchuk says the technology will remove a lot of the guesswork about exactly where features are in their patients’ bodies.

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