HTC Corp (宏達電) is to collaborate with Wanfang Hospital in Taipei on using virtual reality (VR) to improve communication between physicians and patients, the smartphone maker said yesterday.
HTC’s healthcare business, DeepQ, and the hospital are to work on a new application that would allow doctors to better explain surgical procedures and anatomy to patients using visual aids displayed through the HTC Vive Focus headset.
When they better understand medical conditions and physiology, patients and family members are better equipped to participate in decisionmaking about surgeries, the company said.
Three-dimensional modeling of organs and structures using VR would be a vast improvement from using 2D media in doctor-patient communication, Wanfang Hospital head Bai Kuan-jen (白冠壬) said.
The Vive Focus headset is a standalone unit that does not need to be tethered to a PC, is portable and is easily deployed, DeepQ president Edward Chang (張智威) said.
Wangfang Hospital is also to set up a new platform to record patients’ reactions after VR sessions, which is to gauge their medical knowledge and understanding, and help further refine VR tools and content, Chang said.
Meanwhile, HTC yesterday announced unaudited consolidated revenue of NT$1.35 billion (US$43.74 million) for last month, down 8.24 percent from November last year and down 66.36 percent from December 2017, after two months of sequential gains.
That brought last year’s revenue to NT$23.74 billion, 61.78 percent less than in 2017.
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