Dalhousie Medical School neurosurgery residents practise on the NeuroTouch simulator. Photo Credit: Dalhousie University.

It was a Canadian technology developed by Halifax researchers that made possible the world’s first virtual brain-surgery procedure.

In 2009, surgeon Dr. David Clarke and neuroscientist Dr. Ryan D’Arcy led a groundbreaking rehearsal of a delicate brain tumor removal using ‘NeuroTouch’, a neurosurgery simulator. The realistic three-dimensional, touch-sensitive simulation of a patient's brain helped Dr. Clarke prepare for a successful operation on 48-year-old Ellen Wright hours later. The milestone proved a crucial step in introducing simulation into neurosurgical training, helping to improve both the safety and success of difficult procedures.

Such advances in digital technology are dramatically changing both the delivery of healthcare and how we stay healthy. Games and interactive media are used to promote exercise and rehabilitate patients. Virtual reality is used to help alleviate chronic pain. Data analytics and mobile technology are solutions to delivering cost-effective care. For D’Arcy, the challenge for the healthcare industry, however, lies in getting these innovative solutions into the hands of practitioners who can help people.

“In Canada, we often think of research in the abstract, as a concept that resides deep within the labyrinth of our universities. We debate the relative value of fundamental research against that of innovation. The reality is: basic research brings innovation and innovation opens up new avenues of basic research,” D’Arcy recently said in an opinion piece for the Vancouver Sun. “But to create value out of this cycle, we must ensure that these advances make it out of the laboratory and into the world to help. We must expand our engagement into the community.”

A professor at Simon Fraser University, Dr. D’Arcy was one of several researchers to present at GRAND’s latest series of forums aimed at showcasing Canada’s cutting-edge digital health research and innovation. Held in Edmonton (November 17), Winnipeg (November 18), and Vancouver (November 24), the free public events brought together more than 200 researchers (many collaborating in GRAND's health and wellness research projects), entrepreneurs, and companies looking for solutions to health-related problems. Presentations and discussions covered a wide scope of expertise, helping to identify areas of potential collaboration

At the Edmonton forum, University of Alberta student Victor Guana presented his work with researcher Eleni Stroulia on PhyDSL: a software environment for non-computer experts to build physics-based computer games for mobile devices. Together with the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital in Edmonton, researchers at the U of A’s Department of Occupational Therapy used PhysDSL to develop games for the rehabilitation of visuomotor conditions caused after brain injuries. Guana presented his research at the 6th IEEE Games, Entertainment, and Media Conference, held in Toronto in October.

Presenter Dr. Tony Szturm, a physical therapy researcher at the University of Manitoba is working with McGill University computer scientist Jeremy Cooperstock to develop a Tele-rehabilitation Gaming Platform for delivering physical therapy at a distance. The system uses video gameplay to assess the risk of patients suffering fall injuries as a result of loss of mobility and cognitive impairments. The researchers are interested in how balance can be restored in people with brain injuries due to stroke or trauma.

Turning to other interactive media, Simon Fraser University professor Dr. Chris Shaw who leads GRAND’s CHRONIC project (Managing Chronic Disease with Digital Media) discussed the power of Virtual Reality (VR) in helping patients alleviate their chronic pain. At SFU’s Chronic Pain Research Institute, Shaw and director Dr. Diane Gromala have developed VR systems that teach patients techniques of mindfulness meditation and use biofeedback to reduce stress levels and self-manage pain. The system is currently used in over 20 hospitals and clinics across North America.

Healthcare training is also an area being reinvented through the application of virtual reality. Dr. Bill Kapralos, a GRAND researcher at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, presented his explorations into virtual reality as a way to create advanced training and education experiences for healthcare professionals. Kapralos is overseeing the development of serious games for plastic and cardiac surgery, as well as a surgical cognitive education and training framework (SCETF) specifically for skills development.

The role of design in healthcare innovation was raised by presenter Jonathan Aitken, Director of the Health Design Lab at Emily Carr University. His GRAND collaboration with professor Dr. Darren Warburton at UBC’s School of Kinesiology and Experimental Medicine Program developed a clinical exercise app that makes prescribed exercises easier to follow, better informs patients about their conditions, and allows doctors to better track a patient’s progress. For Aitken, the collaboration showed that designers and clinicians working together could accelerate the process of getting research technology into the hands of patients and practitioners.

“Understanding the user experience of a technology helps researchers by adding to their repertoire a different perspective that represents and champions the patient,” said Aitken. “Clinicians see how they can fix the problem; designers try to understand the patient’s experiences of emotion, pain, social issues, communications issues.”

GRAND’s latest forums are part of a series of networking events held in cities across Western Canada focused on key graphics, animation, and digital media problems and needs in the industry. The series was launched in 2012 through a tech transfer initiative seeded by a two-year partnership between GRAND and Western Economic Diversification (WD) that began in 2012.

To date, GRAND’s technology transfer program in Western Canada has exposed over 300 SMEs and other organizations to technologies being developed at labs all over Canada, including more than 120 research demonstrations to businesses and the commercialization of 11 new technologies.

“The general problem with academic-industry interaction is that academics don’t know what industry is interested in, and industry doesn’t have a clue what is happening at the university labs,” said health forum organizer Mark Salopek, GRAND’s Manager of Technology Transfer and Commercialization. “The GRAND workshops bridge that chasm and provide insight that both find useful; the workshops are the first step toward creating partnerships and unlocking opportunities for both academics and entrepreneurs.”

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GRAND workshop to help BC’s digital media sector tap into university research and innovation