A doctor at the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan, Hubei province, recently put on medical virtual reality (VR) glasses to perform an operation for a patient suffering from superior sulcus tumor, Wuhan Evening News reported on July 25.

It is the first time that the province has applied VR technology to tumor resections.

The doctor decided to use the special glasses to perform the operation because of the location of the tumor and because the tumor was densely covered with nerves, increasing the difficulty of the operation.

Hu Weidong, chief physician of the hospital’s oncology department, said that doctors wearing the medical VR glasses can clearly see the inner structure of the human body.

The operation was a success and the patient has left the hospital.