Virtual Reality Medical Application System

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for monitoring a patient by positioning the patient for a predetermined medical mission; sensing biometric and physical conditions of a patient during the mission, and displaying a multimedia interaction with the patient to keep the patient in a predetermined position to improve efficacy of a medical mission.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14 / 641,302, entitled “Virtual Reality Medical Application System” filed Mar. 6, 2015 and currently co-pending, which claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61 / 949,196 filed Mar. 6, 2014, the content of which is fully incorporated herein incorporated by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates generally to medical treatment apparatus. The present invention is more particularly, though not exclusively, useful as a patient monitoring system that monitors both the biometric and physical condition of a patient, and provides a virtual reality interface to that patient to improve the tolerance and efficacy of the medical treatment. The present invention is most particularly useful as a virtual reality environment which interfaces to medical treatment apparatus and with medical service providers to decrease the discom...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The system effectively reduces patient movement, decreases anxiety, and enhances treatment efficacy by allowing patients to remain still without physical restraints or sedatives, improving radiation delivery precision and reducing treatment time and costs.

Problems solved by technology

Radiation causes cellular degradation due to damage to DNA and other key molecular structures within the cells in various tissues.

However, along with the curative effects of radiation are negative side effects.

Additionally, the prolonged overexposure of unnecessary radiation may cause more serious complications and may lead to mortality.

Although the directed radiation beam precisely delivers the radiation to diseased tissue, its frame of reference is to a stationary patient and traditionally does not take into account the natural and unnatural movements of a patient during that 15-30 minute treatment.

The treatments then become less effective which would require additional treatment, further exposing the surrounding healthy tissue to unneeded radiation or other treatment types.

This is error prone since it is subject to the technician interpretation of movement.

In order to minimize the movements, patients are traditionally subject to invasive and uncomfortable methods of immobilization.

This may cause discomfort and pain as the patient is tightly held in a single position for periods of up to 30 minutes for a single treatment.

The physical restriction of the movements of the patient may cause or increase the levels of anxiety, resulting in heavier and quicker breathing.

This daily procedure typically costs an additional $5,000 to 6,000 per day, requires additional medical staff (such as anesthesiologists and nurses), medical equipment, and results in a longer treatment time.

In instances where the use of mechanical stabilization devices is undesirable or not feasible, the patient must refrain from moving, including the momentary cessation of breathing.

The technician may be error prone as it requires the technician's interpretation of whether the patient has moved a distance as little as few centimeters.

This is error prone since it is subject to the technician interpretation of movement; it only shows only gross movement or body positioning.

This system does not allow patient's participation and monitoring of his / her movement, and patients has no control or awareness.

If the technician sees body movement, he / she has to re-enter to treatment room to re-adjust patient position to match the reference position, and this adds additional time to the treatment.

There is some delay (deadtime) between time the movement is detected and the technician instruction to patient.

This approach is even less effective when patients are experiencing pain and uncontrolled movements, as well as those with hearing impairment or are simply too young to understand the technician's instructions.

The control of radiation exposure is particularly challenging for children because children are naturally more anxious than adults.

Staying still for prolonged periods of times for the treatment is a difficult proposition for children and the use of mechanical stabilization devices or sedatives is commonly used.

The mechanical stabilization devices generally cause additional anxiety in children as they are bound and immobilized, resulting in crying, screaming, and minute movements as they struggle to become free.

The use of sedatives, although effective to immobilize, comes with medical risk of the sedative medications, costs (up to several thousands dollars per treatment), and extended induction and recovery time (3-5 hours per treatment).

Images