What is VERT?

Virtual Environment Radiotherapy Training, or VERT, is specialist software designed to offer a vast range of training for radiotherapy students, nurses and existing staff.  It was developed by Prof. Roger Phillips and James Ward from the University of Hull and Prof. Andy Beavis of the Hull & East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust.  Now VERT is being developed and supplied by a spin out company, Vertual Limited.  However, for the software to give the level of realism it was designed to provide, it needs a Virtual Reality (VR) stereoscopic 3D visualization system.  Virtalis is the only authorised supplier of VERT visualization equipment in England and is one of the most respected names in medical VR, having created MIST VR, the world’s first laparoscopic VR trainer, in the mid 1990s.

The realistic graphics of VERT provide an excellent alternative to training in operational facilities without the associated cost.  Early users of the system report a genuine gain in experience, with 3D visualization proving to be a powerful tool for showing treatment plans, anatomy and dose distributions.  A range of radiotherapy machines, or linear accelerators (popularly known as Linacs), are recreated virtually, namely: Varian, Elekta and Siemens.  The beauty of virtual environment based training is that students can have a far greater quantity of experiences than would be possible in a real radiotherapy treatment room.  Not only that, there is no risk to patient or equipment and students report feeling more relaxed as a result.  In particular, radiotherapy concepts that are difficult to grasp in a classroom setting have been found to be much easier to assimilate thanks to VERT.  VERT enables hands-on experience of patient set-up and radiotherapy treatment plans, whether simple or complex, to be loaded into VERT for the simulation of treatment.

Why VERT is needed

VERT meets a very prescient need.  A recent report by the National Radiotherapy Advisory Group (NRAG) concluded that by 2016 the amount of radiotherapy provided will need to almost double.  For this to happen, more trained staff and Linacs will certainly be required.  Although 167 new Linacs have been installed, either as replacements or as additional machines, their numbers per million of the UK population remain below several other European countries.  Thus radiotherapy delivery is constrained, as is research and training.  In addition, NRAG has reported that insufficient clinical training is a contributory factor to the 35% drop out rate among radiographers.

VERT therefore solves two problems at a stroke.  It provides safe, realistic training without tying up useful equipment and boosts career fulfilment within the radiography profession.  As a result, £5 million of funding has been released for the provision of VERT (or similar) systems in England by the Department of Health.

How VERT Works

VERT has been designed to work to deliver training on two different levels.  The first level is called Immersive VERT, this has been designed for large training centres, of which ten have been identified in England.  Utilising dual channel stereo 3D rear projection at 1:1 scale, a student can walk around the virtual training room during a training exercise.  The student's movement is tracked and his field of view alters as he moves.  Alternatively, an instructor can use the entire wall of the room to demonstrate concepts to a classroom of students. 3D images of the virtual radiotherapy treatment room are rear projected, so the trainee/ instructor can walk in front of the screen without creating a shadow, making it ideal for both solo training or classroom teaching.

The smaller scale VERT system is called Seminar VERT.  Any large meeting room would be suitable for installation of this simple, single channel stereo 3D front projection system.  Although the principal user is not tracked, the equipment in the VR room can also still be operated via a real hand control pendant. Seminar VERT has been developed specially for classroom teaching and a number of radiotherapy clinics in England have been identified as potential beneficiaries.

Links:
Vertual www.vertual.co.uk
BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7121497.stm