Surgeons Are Wearing AR Glasses in the OR. Could Veterinary Surgery Be Next?

A new proof-of-concept study from UC Davis shows augmented reality can overlay 3D diagnostic imaging directly onto the canine surgical field with improved spatial accuracy and no loss of speed. It's early. It's promising. Here's what it actually means.

By Vet Candy Editorial  |  June 24, 2026  |  Surgery, Technology & Innovation

Augmented reality has been making its way into human surgical suites for several years now — overlaying imaging data, anatomical landmarks, and tumor margins directly into a surgeon's field of view in real time. The question has always been when, not if, the technology would cross into veterinary medicine.

A new proof-of-concept study published in the American Journal of Veterinary Research (AJVR) takes a meaningful step toward answering that question. Researchers at UC Davis demonstrated that AR-guided visualization overlaid directly onto the surgical field improved spatial accuracy during complex head and neck procedures — and did so without slowing surgeons down.

It was a simulation, not a live patient. But the findings are worth paying attention to, particularly for veterinarians working in surgical oncology and head and neck procedures where margin precision is everything.

What the Study Actually Did

Twenty-two veterinarians from UC Davis's Weill School of Veterinary Medicine participated in the study, which used a holographic image of a dog head as the surgical model. Participants wore augmented reality eyeglasses that projected 3D diagnostic imaging directly onto the simulated surgical field — allowing them to see internal anatomy overlaid on the external surface simultaneously.

The study measured two key outcomes: spatial accuracy (how precisely surgeons could identify and target structures) and procedure speed (how long it took to complete the tasks). The AR-guided group showed improved spatial accuracy without a corresponding decrease in speed — which is the critical finding. In surgical technology research, accuracy gains that come at the cost of significantly longer operating time are a much harder sell clinically.

"Augmented reality technology has the potential to enhance surgical precision by overlaying 3D diagnostic imaging and biologic information directly onto the animal patient," said lead author Dr. Stephanie Goldschmidt, associate professor of dentistry and oral surgery at UC Davis.

Why Head and Neck Surgery Is the Right Starting Point

The choice of head and neck procedures as the test case isn't arbitrary. This is one of the most spatially demanding areas in veterinary surgery — particularly for oncologic resections, where the goal is clean margins on tumors that sit in close proximity to critical nerves, vasculature, and structures that can't be sacrificed.

The surgeon's challenge in these cases is fundamentally about spatial translation: taking what they see on a CT or MRI and mentally mapping it onto the three-dimensional anatomy in front of them on the table. That mental translation is a known source of error, and it's exactly the problem AR is positioned to solve — by collapsing the gap between the imaging and the surgical field into a single real-time view.

Dental and oral tumors in dogs, nasal tumors, skull base lesions — these are the cases where a surgeon getting the margin call wrong has immediate and serious consequences for the patient. The potential upside of AR in this context is real.

What 'Proof of Concept' Actually Means — and Doesn't

The language matters here. This is a proof-of-concept study using a simulated surgical model, not a clinical trial in live patients. The 22 participants were working on a holographic dog head, not an anesthetized dog on a table with all the biological complexity that entails — tissue variability, bleeding, instrument management, real-time patient monitoring.

The authors are clear about the next step: future research will focus on whether these findings translate to clinical settings. That's the work that still needs to happen before AR-guided surgery becomes a realistic option in veterinary practice. Regulatory considerations, equipment cost, workflow integration, and training requirements are all questions that a proof-of-concept study doesn't answer.

None of that diminishes the significance of the finding. A proof-of-concept that shows improved accuracy without speed penalty is exactly what you want before committing to the larger and more expensive clinical validation work. The pipeline is working as it should.

Where Human Medicine Is and What It Tells Us

AR in human surgery is no longer experimental in many centers — it's being used clinically for orthopedic procedures, neurosurgery, and some oncologic resections. The learning curve on the technology, the workflow integration challenges, and the cost structures are all better understood than they were five years ago.

That existing infrastructure is an asset for veterinary medicine's adoption pathway. The hardware is more mature, the software frameworks are more developed, and there are clinical validation models to learn from rather than starting from scratch. Veterinary surgery doesn't have to build this pipeline from zero.

The gap between human surgical adoption and veterinary adoption for technologies like this has been narrowing meaningfully over the past decade. AR may follow a similar pattern to laparoscopy and advanced imaging — longer runway than in human medicine, but the destination is the same.

The Bottom Line for Veterinary Surgeons

If you do head and neck surgery, dental and oral oncology, or any procedure where spatial accuracy on margins is critical, this is a technology worth watching. The proof-of-concept data is encouraging and the research team at UC Davis is moving toward clinical validation.

This is not a near-term change to your practice. But it is a signal that the conversation about AR in veterinary surgery has moved from 'could this ever work?' to 'here's evidence it works in simulation, let's see if it translates.' That's a meaningful shift.

The full article, including video simulations of the procedure, is available in AJVR.

Read the Research

Full article in AJVR: Augmented Reality in Canine Surgical Procedures — American Journal of Veterinary Research

American Journal of Veterinary Research (AJVR): avmajournals.avma.org

UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine: vetmed.ucdavis.edu