Neurosurgeons in Halifax teamed up to successfully remove a patient's brain tumour after practicing the surgery using a virtual reality technology developed by scientists from across the country.

Ellen Wright, a 48-year-old mother and grandmother from Smiths Cove near Digby, N.S., is recovering from Tuesday's operation to remove a noncancerous brain tumour that was dangerously close to the part of the brain that controls speech.

"I'm talking. I don't know if my husband is happy about it, " Wright joked Wednesday.

The speech centre in Wright's brain wasn't touched, thanks in part to a dry run on a brain surgery simulator that the district health authority calls a world first.

On Monday, Dr. David Clarke, a neurosurgeon at QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, rehearsed the surgery on a simulation of Wright's pulsating brain anatomy. The information was taken from a series of MRI scans of her brain and the three-dimensional model looked the same as it did in the operation room, Clarke said.

Before her surgery, Wright was reassured that the rehearsal was a success.

Virtual tissue feels real

The virtual-reality system was developed using technology from the National Research Council. It has unprecedented high-resolution haptic hardware that allows a user to move and touch virtual objects. Integrated software makes the virtual tissue behave as it would in actual surgery.

"I feel the resistance of the tumour as I remove it," Clarke said of the simulator. "I feel the tip of the instrument vibrating, and so it gives that very real feeling."

Ryan D'Arcy is a neuroscientist with the National Research Council in Halifax who helped develop the simulator. D'Arcy uses imaging techniques such as MRI to learn more about the relationship between the brain and behaviour in healthy people.

"We saw that more skilled individuals were more efficient with this simulator," D'Arcy said. "For instance, when I'm taking it up, I'm not that good, and I suspect I shouldn't be doing brain surgery," he said with a smile.

Young residents with video gaming experience were able to take to the virtual surgery more quickly and naturally, Clarke said.

It cost $10 million to develop the simulator, which the team hopes to sell to hospitals, clinics and schools worldwide.