Ajith George, Professor of Surgery/Surgical Anatomy Education at Keele University sought to accelerate the learning of cadaver dissection in ENT specialists amongst his students through VR simulations. Partnering with medical VR specialist, ExR Education, Keele University has launched immersive VR experiences for ENT anatomy and transoral dissection, offering courses on an introduction to transoral dissection, tonsil vessels, and lingual artery.
These realistic simulations walk surgeons through from initial incision to final exposure of the key muscular and vascular landmarks, helping to support students learning how to dissect in the parapharyngeal space.
Jonny Abbas, Co-Founder of ExR Education and ENT surgical trainee himself said: “Immersive technologies including virtual reality can be used in a wide range of applications. If we can apply these here and reduce the cost of cadaveric training, our surgical trainees may get greater opportunities as study budgets are extremely limited.”
In response to the introduction of this immersive technology, the effectiveness of the training has been evaluated by Mr Michael Eastwood (ENT Specialist Trainee, University of North Midlands). Studying twelve participants, whose expertise ranged from ST5 to post CCR fellow, using the Wilcoxon Sign Rank test, the study found a significant improvement in post teaching spotter test scores (P=<0.05).
Average scores increased from 60% (range 10-100%) to 90% (range 60-100%). During the dissection, all participants identified all 10 key structures with only 3 cases where an injury or incomplete dissection took place. The user study data has been presented in the British Association of Head and Neck Oncology.
The unique VR training simulations were launched at the Endoscopic 3D Transoral Anatomy Dissection training day at Keele Anatomy and Surgical Training Centre in January 2025.
“The VR training simulations are beyond what I had imagined. The project was funded through our hospital charity and has attracted attention from the industry due to its educational components. We are planning a charity launch alongside patients who have benefited from this type of procedure knowledge over the last 9 years at UHNM. It’s a really exciting and proud moment for us to showcase this innovation. The feedback from the surgical courses has been phenomenal!” said Professor Ajith George.
The four virtual experiences on key ENT cadaveric training activities are now freely available to any NHS medical professional via the ExR Education platform, as part of ExR’s mission to democratise access to medical virtual reality.
