First surgical procedure live-streamed in virtual reality (VR)

On 14 April 2016, Bangladesh-born British surgeon Shafi Ahmed became the first person to live-stream a surgical procedure in virtual reality. The surgery – a routine operation to remove a tumour from a patient with colon cancer – was live-streamed from the Royal London Hospital, UK, by medical training start-up Medical Realities.

This event is not the first time Shafi Ahmed has live-streamed from the operating theatre: in May 2014, he streamed another tumour-removal operation using a Google Glass headset and has experimented with several other systems since then.

Ahmed performs these streamed surgeries as demonstrations of new ways of training medical professionals. By watching a live stream of Ahmed's team at the Royal London Hospital, trainee surgeons from all over the world can get the experience of shadowing an internationally renowned surgeon at work.