Doctor Performs First Google Glass-Equipped Surgery

We've seen Google Glass in the shower; we've seen Google Glass at Disneyland; we've even seen Google 

Glass pop the question.

Now, it's time for a little Google Gross.

Dr. Rafael Grossmann, of the Eastern Maine Medical Center, recently performed his first Google surgery with Google Glass in tow. As far as we can tell, it's also the first such Google Glass-equipped surgery in the device's history – complete with a corresponding Google Glass Hangout (which wasn't open to the public, for those looking to tune in to a live surgery when the thrill of a YouTube video just isn't enough anymore).

"By performing and documenting this event, I wanted to show that this device and its platform, are certainly intuitive tools that have a great potential in Healthcare, and specifically for surgery, could allow better intra-operative consultations, surgical mentoring and potentiate remote medical education, in a very simple way," Grossmann writes.

And before privacy hawks start dreaming up scenarios where a doctor records your lovely spleen without you knowing it, Grossmann is quick to note that the Glass-enhanced surgery took place with the patient's complete consent. Additionally, Grossmann made sure that no identifying information about the patient was recorded or transmitted during the surgery – a gastrostomy, or the placement of a feeding tube, performed endoscopically — up to and including the patient's face itself.

Grossmann set up the Hangout in advance and used it to connect up to a nearby iPad, which displayed the images he was live-streaming through his Google Glass headset.

"I was able to show not just the patient's abdomen, but also the endoscopic view, in a very clever, simple and inexpensive way. I think that there should be ways to directly stream the endoscopic view thru Google Glass (My friend @Julianmb, also a Google Explorer, and his team of experts from @Droiders are working on that!) but this was a "Poor's Man's" set up," Grossmann writes.

With no major complications as a result of his setup — or the surgery — Grossmann appears hopeful that this first, "home-made" attempt can help pave the way for future Google Glass-integrated surgeries going forward. While he purposefully picked a "simple and commonly performed" procedure for his first Glass surgery, perhaps you might be seeing beating hearts and all sorts of other Surgeon Simulator-like experiences in the not-so-distant future.