Background

Broadcasting surgical procedures is often only possible in specially designed theatre environments, using expensive and cumbersome equipment. Having obtained Google Glass technology, we wanted to explore the potential for making medical procedures easily accessible and wondered about how easy it might be to screencast the view from the in-built camera to a smartphone display during a procedure. The ease and clarity with which this was performed was something we felt may have many uses for medical education.

Case presentation

A 20-year-old woman with no medical or family history came to cardiology services with palpitations that were associated with presyncope. She had a normal resting ECG, normal echocardiogram and an initial 24 h ambulatory ECG monitor showed sinus rhythm. She did not record any symptoms when given a cardiac memo device. After a period of being symptom free, she had further symptomatic palpitations but these settled by the time medical contact was sought.

An implantable loop recorder (ILR) was considered but due to her slim build, she was not keen on the previous generation Reveal DX model (Medtronic). At the time, a newer, smaller and injectable ILR (LINQ, Medtronic) was being made commercially and was widely available; it was felt she would be a good candidate for this, to which she consented.

The LINQ device had not previously been implanted at our institution. The operator (AB) had also recently obtained the new Google Glass (Google Inc) (figure 1A), a wearable set of glasses with in-built camera and heads-up display, which has Internet connectivity. It also has in-built broadcast features via Bluetooth connectivity. As other operators (PRG) showed interest in watching the first LINQ implant, we wondered whether broadcasting the procedure was possible.

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Figure 1

(A) Google Glass; (B) Operator (AB) wearing Google Glass; (C) Samsung Galaxy Note 3 showing screencast of procedure from Google Glass; (D) PRG viewing screencast remotely on Samsung phone (arrowed) in control room.

After appropriate patient consent, we paired Google Glass with a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (Samsung) via Bluetooth. AB wore the Google Glass while performing the procedure in the theatre environment. PRG sat in the control room area remotely viewing on the Samsung phone what the Google Glass wearer was seeing (figure 1B–D).

The procedure was completed successfully and without complications, and the patient was discharged shortly afterwards.

Outcome and follow-up

As yet, the patient has had no further symptomatic palpitations.

In the context of medical education, the Google Glass broadcasting of a live procedure over a short distance via Bluetooth appeared to be successful. For the technology to be deemed useful, a number of factors were considered. The ease of use of the technology for the person doing the procedure and the person viewing it were important factors. AB's Google Glass came with prescription lenses so it was unobtrusive and he reported no difficulties in completing the procedure. The pairing process via Bluetooth was simple and PRG reported no difficulties getting set up.

The important consideration was whether watching the procedure using this setup was useful from a training perspective. PRG reported that watching the procedure on the high-definition screen of the Samsung Note phone was a good experience. Owing to broadcasting over a short distance using Bluetooth, there was no lag reported in the audio/video signal. Additionally, the Google Glass's unique viewpoint from the operator's eyeline was useful to someone who might be training to perform a procedure themselves.