Shantese Wilkinson's surgeon used a simple pair of 3-D glasses to remove a tumor from her brain.
Neurosurgeon Dr. Mark Eisenberg opened Shantese's skull. An endoscope with a special camera snaked through her nose to her brain. The reality of 3-D comes in here. The new camera sensor is a microchip located at the end of the endoscope. It allows doctors to see on-screen, with true depth perception, what the tumor looks like and precisely where it is so they can remove it more accurately, safely, and get more of the tumor out than before.
"Having the knowledge of the anatomy, having the visual cues, and having it in 3-D makes it easier to make a safe dissection," said Dr. B. Todd Schaeffer.
Wilkinson's surgery was a success.
The camera on that endoscope the doctors used is about 4 millimeters in size, about the size of a drinking straw.
