It was 1993 when young engineer Avi Yaron was asked to visit a neurologist by his father after a car accident. The first doctor confirmed he had a tumor and surgery was required right away. Realizing there could be potential complications, Yaron decided to seek a second opinion. The second neurosurgeon said his tumor was of no immediate danger and he was asked to come back for another MRI in three months. Armed with query and disbelief, Yaron consulted a third doctor, this time he was asked to undergo a biopsy to determine whether the tumor was malignant.
Yaron was shocked, he did not know how to proceed and it had never occurred to him he would be receiving three disparate, inconsistent diagnoses from three experts. Like most modern patients out there, rather than depending on others to decide his fate, he became “his own doctor” and began a series of learning about the body’s anatomy and basic medicine and reading on his own condition. After a year of hard work, Yaron discovered his tumor located in the ventricle was exceptionally rare; roughly 20 cases around the world, and it was known as the Neurocytoma.
Yaron was shocked, he did not know how to proceed and it had never occurred to him he would be receiving three disparate, inconsistent diagnoses from three experts. Like most modern patients out there, rather than depending on others to decide his fate, he became “his own doctor” and began a series of learning about the body’s anatomy and basic medicine and reading on his own condition. After a year of hard work, Yaron discovered his tumor located in the ventricle was exceptionally rare; roughly 20 cases around the world, and it was known as the Neurocytoma.
The road to innovate
Yaron contacted Dr. Patrick Kelly, Entrepreneur, Neurosurgeon, and Chairman at New York University at that time, who had successfully operated on eight Neurocytoma cases using his computer-assisted brain surgery invention. The technology simulates the whole surgery beforehand using a 3D stereoscope and virtual reality, to ascertain the procedure to be done in a minimally invasive way in the actual setting. Yaron was free but he also
Dr. Kelly could not remove the remaining bits of the tumor unless
This was how the company Visionsense began. Yaron took his inspiration from insects; in most instance, each insect’s eye is a collation of many different “eyes” which concentrates on different areas to form a more holistic perception of an object or environment. As for mammals, the brain will register the differences in angles between the two eyes to perceive depth. Yaron and his team combined the two unique properties and developed a 3-
Not alone
In 2014, venture capitalist Trish Costello started a platform –
This
Previously, AIMed had covered stories of patients who are changing clinical trials through social media support groups; patients’ unique perspectives of artificial intelligence (AI) and new technologies; how they may transform into digital entrepreneurs, how to empower patients in this new era and so on. We believe new technologies will not only change medicine but the entire medical landscape.
Author Bio
A science writer with data background and an interest in the current affair, culture,
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