Medical augmented reality developer Ocutrx Technologies has launched an AR headset to replace traditional medical lens, or loupes. DigiLoupes features AR, XR, and pancake lens technology.

The DigiLoupes headset replaces traditional “chin-on-chest” loupes and is being developed for spinal interventions, orthopaedic surgeons, breast surgeons, dentists, and dermatologists. DigiLoupes adds digital and extended reality features, including both surgical and preoperative imaging views, and offers an industry-leading field-of-view, resolution, and connectivity.

The headset features tilt-up capability and see-around displays, providing surgeons a complete overview of the surgical site and surrounding area. A programmable and wireless DigiLoupes foot pedal allows adjustable magnification, variable illumination, adjustable brightness, saturation adjustment, and enhanced contrast control.

The DigiLoupes headset will be available in two versions: an AR version with a Near-Eye Pupil-Forming Catadioptric Optical Engine and another version named PariVue with two pancake lenses as the optical engine. Pancake lenses, in contrast to traditional fresnel lenses, are short and flat, providing high-quality optics in a compact package; in the DigiLoupes headset, the pancake lens offers full peripheral vision. The pancake lens fits in a smaller surface area without reducing image quality. It allows the headset to be reduced in size and is lighter for the surgeon wearing it. DigiLoupes provides the surgeon with multiple digital surgery views, including the surgery view and magnification, pre-operative imaging, and equipment readouts.

“The new pancake lens technology that we’re building into one DigiLoupes version will offer an enhanced surgeon experience without sacrificing the high visual quality that our surgeon network has come to know and expect from Ocutrx AR/XR products,” said Michael Freeman, CEO of Ocutrx. “We are committed to designing and building the best products possible that will improve user experience across a wide range of sectors. The DigiLoupes stand-alone headset and the ORLenz AR/XR headset used with the OR-Bot 3D Surgical Visualisation Theatre provide dramatic improvements in healthcare ergonomics and 3D visualisation, and we look forward to the immense benefits beyond surgical—for enterprise, manufacturing research, military, and gaming in the future as well.”

Dr Leonel Hunt, an orthopaedic spine surgeon and former head of spinal surgery at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, said, “The DigiLoupes solution provides better magnification, visualisation, and illumination than current loupes—all hands-free. The ability to focus not just at the skin level, but also at bone, nerve, and tissue levels below without needing to move the patient is huge. It allows me to work, with full zoom and focus, without putting any instruments down. An additional bonus is the ergonomics; I can perform surgery with a healthy neck posture, which means I can be more efficient, conduct more surgeries, and care for more people.”