July 2017

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Health Capsule

Explore Future Surgery Tools

Ever wonder what the future holds for health care technologies? Already, new tools are helping surgeons get a closer look inside your body. Robots enable operations that require only a small incision. Surgery is becoming less invasive, more effective, and safer. New materials equip surgeons with better ways to reconstruct tissues and promote faster healing.

Now you can explore the tools of the future with NIH’s new interactive app. Float through a virtual 3-D operating room to learn about technologies including new imaging tools, robotics, biomaterials, and more. As you hover, click on objects to see the tools that are being developed right now.

Watch a robot perform surgery. Robots can make stitches that are far tinier than a surgeon’s. They can also bend and twist in ways that a surgeon’s hand can’t. Click on another tool to watch foam expanding inside a blood vessel to block an aneurysm, a balloon-like bulge in danger of bursting. There are many technologies to explore.

Download the app for free to your iOS or Android mobile device. Follow the links at www.nibib.nih.gov/Surgery-of-Future. Or search “Surgery of the Future” in the education category at the Apple App Store or “NIBIB Surgery of the Future” at the Google Play store.