SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) - Doctors at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals have been incorporating cutting-edge virtual reality to help children who are undergoing brain surgery and their families feel empowered during the treatment process.
Pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Kurtis Auguste leads his patients on "VR flights" -- virtual tours inside their own brains -- to better understand their diagnosis and show them how the process of removal will occur.
On this week's episode of "As Prescribed," Dr. Auguste explains how VR offers a more realistic way to visualize the inside of the brain and demystifies the process of surgery using a familiar technology for young patients.
"It's not easy when you walk into a room as a white coat with a child, and it's hard to make that connection. And so I saw this technology as an opportunity to speak their language," Dr. Auguste told KCBS Radio's Patti Reising. "The moment I put the VR headsets on my patients and they immerse themselves into a world that they're familiar with, we automatically make a connection. And I'm able to explain their problem to them in terms that they can understand."
Dr. Auguste, a former gamer who "grew up on Atari and ColecoVision," said two-dimensional X-ray, CT and MRI images of the brain are extremely limited and can be difficult for surgeons to analyze -- let alone young patients. But all that changes with VR.
"With virtual reality, this is an incredibly powerful tool to immediately three-dimensionalize a problem with vivid colors," said Dr. Auguste.
Different patients, especially different age groups, get something different out of a VR experience. While younger kids might just enjoy floating around a 3D version of their brain like a video game, older patients who understand why they're coming to see Dr. Auguste can really benefit from VR flights.
"They really want to know what's going on. And not just that, many of them come in with a significant amount of trepidation and fear about what's going to happen," he said. "How could someone possibly do a surgery where they open up my head and they go in there and they work with my brain? How is that even possible? But when you see it and you can conceptualize it in 3D, in a non-gory, vivid, very colorful environment, it demystifies it and it makes it something that makes sense."
Dr. Auguste, who has led VR flights for more than 100 patients and their families, said it not only reduces stress and anxiety but it gives them a sense of control over the diagnosis.
"These kids can fly around and zap their tumor or zap that seizure spot. And in a way, attack it back, attack that thing that's been hurting them all along. And I think it's a very cathartic and therapeutic experience to go after that thing that's been causing them so much trouble," he said. "And it's even better when we get to fly around in their brain after their surgery, after they're better. It brings a significant amount of closure to a very traumatizing experience otherwise."
Listen to this week's "As Prescribed" to learn more. You can also listen to last week's episode to learn how to protect yourself and others amid a summer surge of COVID-19, here.
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"As Prescribed" is sponsored by UCSF.