Cardiothoracic surgeon Pierre Theodore of the UCSF Medical Center recently performed surgery wearing Google Glass, the wearable computer by Google Inc. "There is a long way to go, but the technology is great," he recently tweeted.
He used Glass to view a patient's X-rays while performing surgery, alternating between looking down at the patient and glancing at the medical imagery on the lens.
Google Glass, for the uninitiated, is eyewear that incorporates computer display, camera, and touch pad; in contrast with a smart phone, it's always on your head, allowing for constant display. The futuristic eyewear is part of the wave of digital health innovations that have the potential to bring value and improve outcome for patients in the ever-changing healthcare delivery system.
An increasing number of developers are building applications for Glass, not just for auxiliary operating room tools, but also as a way of calling up electronic medical records on the fly; teaching modern surgical techniques through live feedback during surgery; consults between clinical teams, and much more.
The device also has a Wi-Fi chip, recording capability and other features, allowing for multiple applications along the health-care delivery chain.
Simon Karger, head of Surgical and Interventional Products at Cambridge Consultants, a product development and design firm based in Cambridge, Mass., said that besides Glass's surgical promise, there are a number of opportunities for diagnostic applications as well. Google Glass's camera could be combined with optical diagnostic tests such as colorimetric tests or lateral flow tests (the same sort of technology used in pregnancy tests), he says.
"Using image processing algorithms on an image of the test, you can start to achieve the accuracy of dedicated clinical diagnostic machines with the ease of use of visually read tests. That means, for example, immediate blood test results instead of having to wait for the results to be sent to a lab," Karger says.
Google Glass pioneer, Kyle Samani of Pristine is piloting Google Glass apps for healthcare at UC Irvine, Rhode Island Hospital and other healthcare facilities. He has built a HIPAA compliant telemedicine solution to beam in remote physicians - especially specialists - into the eyes of the local care provider to help provide care for the patient at hand.
"This solution is far more elegant than traditional telemedicine solutions because it's dramatically lighter weight and more ergonomic; it provides a first person perspective, and allows folks to retain use of both hands," Samani says. He admits that Glass, though, has some shortcomings. The screen is small (and thus can't display much data); user input mechanisms are limited, and battery life is short.
"Like other new technologies, I envision that Glass will help to streamline daily tasks and bring information to our fingertips even quicker than we are accustomed with our computers, phones and tablets," says Bobby Grajewski, president of Edison Nation Medical, a healthcare product and medical device incubator and online healthcare innovation community.
"We don't know all the advantages and drawbacks that will go along with the technology but my hope would be that any efficiencies would translate into conditions being diagnosed earlier so patients may being receiving treatment they need as quickly as possible."
