Future of Visualization and Simulation in Neurosurgery

Technological advancement defines the practice of neurosurgery, and as the field has advanced, so have the visualization strategies that are implemented within it. Accurate and realistic visualization and simulation of surgical anatomy for practitioner training, patient education, and operative planning remains critically important. In neurosurgery, a variety of new technologies have been introduced, including three-dimensional, stereoscopic, virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality platforms, all of which will be reviewed in this chapter. A sampling of each of these modalities and their utilization within neurosurgery will be explored, from Surgical Theater ® and ImmersiveTouch ® to Google Glass ®, Oculus Rift ®, Microsoft HoloLens ®, and much more.