The use of virtual reality (VR) in surgery dates back to the early 1990s when laparoscopic surgeons began using crude VR systems to plan and rehearse procedures. However, it was not until the early 2000s that VR really began to be used extensively in surgery.
One of the earliest examples of VR being used in surgery was during a minimally invasive mitral valve replacement procedure performed by Dr. Mark Stevens at Stanford University Medical Center in 2002. The surgeon used a specially designed Oculus Rift headset to view a 3D model of the patient’s heart and plan the best approach for the operation.
Since then, VR has been used for a variety of different surgical procedures.
