Virtual brain surgery centre opens in Montreal

Canadian surgeons can now practise virtual brain surgery before using their scalpels on real patients.

The first of seven virtual-reality brain surgery training centres across the country opened officially Wednesday at the neurosurgical simulation centre in McGill University's Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (the Neuro), said a release from the National Research Council.

The simulator uses "haptic" hardware that allows a surgeon to feel sensations of moving and touching objects, like the vibration of the tip of an instrument or the difference in resistance between the more fibrous and softer parts of a tumour being removed.

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