Cranial Navigation (AR headset for neurosurgery)

2025: Product Announcement

In mid-December 2025, the American company Medivis introduced the world's first augmented reality (AR) headset designed to perform neurosurgical operations on the skull. The Cranial Navigation device is designed to improve the safety and effectiveness of complex cranial interventions.

The system displays critical information directly in the operating field. The headset allows surgeons to see a clear image of anatomical structures and planned trajectories in real time. This approach helps to make faster decisions and also reduces reliance on traditional medical monitors. The AR platform optimizes the process of operations and minimizes delays, which is especially important in intensive care units.

𝓲

Фото: Medivis

One of the areas of application of the novelty is the procedures associated with the installation of external ventricular drains. Such operations are carried out to temporarily divert cerebrospinal fluid (cerebrospinal fluid) from the ventricles of the brain into an external container to reduce increased intracranial pressure, treat hydrocephalus, to remove excess blood, drain infected cerebrospinal fluid, etc. It is estimated that up to 30% of procedures for the installation of external ventricular drains are accompanied by certain problems, which often leads to repeated interventions, harm to the patient and delay in the provision of intensive care. The Medivis headset is said to significantly reduce the number of such cases thanks to real-time visualization using augmented reality.

Medivis has received approval for a new AR system from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).^[1]

Notes