The latest generations of handheld portable gaming devices have been known to do nifty tricks in the past. However, recent reports suggest that gaming gadgets are also being used to assist doctors in the field of medicine. Microsoft Kinect, one of Microsoft’s latest gaming gadgets has recently been used in Sunnybrook Hospital, Toronto, to help save a patient’s life.
The Canadian doctors managed to connect an Xbox 360 depth camera to their own medical imaging computers. This has ensured that doctors no longer have to scratch their heads trying to make sense of MRI scans. They don’t even have to make a peon do it now. All they do is make the patients swallow the camera, and then use the live feed from the camera to help diagnose the patient’s illness, saving valuable time which is often essential for fast moving disorders/diseases.
The American Optometric Association is also full of praise for nifty gadgets like the Nintendo 3DS. According to them, the stereoscopic 3D handheld device could help identify kids under the age of 6 who require vision therapy. While the labels on the gaming device may have scared off some parents, the AOA has found that children who cannot fully experience the 3DS’s capabilities may suffer from amblyopia or other vision disorders. The earlier these disorders are diagnosed, the easier it is to treat them.
According to some reputed doctors however, this may not always be a viable method of checking or disorders. This is because children who already suffer from disorders such as amblyopia may not even know that they are missing out on a certain experience on the gaming device that others can. While the test has had some success among some patients, it is not a conclusive one, so one shouldn’t start getting one’s hopes up!
