MediView XR, Inc., a clinical augmented reality med-tech company, announces that it has partnered with Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic to explore ways to advance procedural augmented reality solutions. MediView combines augmented reality with surgical navigation to provide surgeons and healthcare professionals with 3D “X-Ray vision” through the skin for minimally invasive procedures.

“We are thrilled to explore new clinical adoption of practice-altering extended reality solutions,” says Mina Fahim, president and CEO of MediView. “We will equip practitioners with intuitive surgical visualization and navigation tools to inform clinical decision making to confidently deliver better care to more patients.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Mayo Clinic will provide clinical, technology, and research expertise to MediView. The intent is to further accelerate innovation in the development of solutions to improve clinical workflow, enhance remote collaboration, simplify minimally invasive procedures, and remove barriers to patient access.

MediView is utilizing augmented reality to address the long-standing limitations of current medical imaging technologies in displaying 3D patient anatomy. Standard 2D visualization systems do not allow surgeons to directly visualize and interact with patient internal anatomy during percutaneous procedures and provide a poor understanding of 3D images, according to MediView officials. 

Because current technologies lack integration between medical images and the location of the clinician’s tools, there is an inherent need for an effective mechanism to provide real-time feedback that surgical instruments are in the proper anatomical location and inform the surgeon of potential imminent medical errors. 

Further, flat-panel monitors limit surgeons to 2D imaging and require them to look away from the patient’s surgical site, disrupting hand-eye coordination, resulting in reduced clinician confidence, and potentially impacting outcomes. Through an augmented reality headset, clinicians can visualize 3D images of a patient’s anatomy as well as displays of other procedural information to facilitate their surgical workflow. Clinicians at remote locations can also collaborate in real-time with shared visualization, communication, and the ability to provide guidance during procedures for collaborative patient care.

By providing an augmented reality visualization platform for clinicians that can be used for a wide breadth of clinical indications and anatomies, MediView aims to unlock the power of 3D data to transform image-guided medical procedures. Through remote collaboration, MediView is working to democratize healthcare by permitting patients in rural or underserved areas to receive care from qualified specialists.