New VR clearance means radiologists in Canada can diagnose from home

This week Saskatchewan, Canada-based startup Luxsonic landed Class 2 Medical Device clearance from Health Canada for its virtual reality suite, SieVRt, to be used in diagnostic radiology. 

Clinicians can use the software on a VR headset in order to see radiology images in 3D. Specifically, this new designation will let clinicians work remotely and diagnose patients off-site. 

The tool can also be used to help give students, trainees and physicians more medical imaging visualization tools. The company has already launched a basic, education, and collaboration module on the SieVRt because they do not require federal regulatory clearance. 

The company plans on taking its technology to the U.S., and notes that it is expecting FDA clearance in early 2022.  

WHY IT MATTERS 

The biggest change in this clearance is freeing up doctors to work remotely. During the coronavirus pandemic, we saw a radical shift towards working from home. In fact, a Gallup survey found that 33% of workers in the U.S. are always working remotely, and 25% are sometimes working remotely. However, many professions are not able to change to this model. The company is pitching this as a way to potentially change the radiology workflow. 

“Radiologists can’t easily work remotely, as did many people did during COVID-19. They have a very specialized and expensive workflow that requires them to work exclusively in their office,” Mike Wesolowski, Luxsonic CEO and cofounder, said in a statement.

“Now that Health Canada has approved SieVRt, radiologists will be able to bring their own personalized virtual office with them wherever they go. With SieVRt and a portable VR headset, they have all of the tools they need to remotely diagnose patients.”

Wesolowski also gave the use case of this tech being implemented to help diagnose individuals in rural areas or in under-resourced countries that may not have access to radiology services. 

THE LARGER TREND 

Currently, there is a rise in provider-facing virtual reality tools. Earlier this month San Francisco-based Osso VR scored $27 million in funding for its VR tool, which helps surgeons plan operations. Additionally, London-based FundamentalVR created a tool to help surgeons plan and train for operations. Touch Surgery, which also works in the medical VR training tools space, closed a $70 million funding round in 2020. 

Research out of Stanford University found that doctors using virtual reality to manipulate images of splenic artery aneurysms in 3D spaces were more confident going into a procedure than when they used a standard volume-rendering software.