Virtual Human Anatomy iPhone App

BioDigital Human is now available as a free download for iPhone and iPad.

BioDigital Human is an excellent interactive virtual human anatomy and health condition modeling application. Including over 5,000 anatomy objects, users are able to learn about every part of the body from organs to systems to functions. A New York Times article called it: "the virtual body as the health education equivalent of Google Maps".

BioDigital Virtual Human Demo Video

Providing a virtual cadaver that can be examined and dissected an infinite number of times is an invaluable asset to the medical community. Real-world cadavers have a limited use, can be difficult to acquire, and their health conditions cannot be customized. All of these limitations can be overcome with BioDigital Human, allowing for complete manipulation of the virtual body so that specific body parts and conditions specific to them can be studied.

By providing the application as a free iPhone app, a larger section of the population has access to a powerful tool that allows them to see and understanding the interworkings of their body. Students, educators, patients, providers, and businesses are all able to take advantage of this mobile application to better understand, describe, visualize, diagnose, and market products for the human body.

Definitely check it out if you're looking for a quick way to learn about anything within human anatomy, from bones to organs to metabolic systems.

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World's Most Advanced Virtual Reality Neurosurgical Simulator

If you're interested in medical training simulators or neurosurgical oncology, the most frequently used brain cancer surgery treatment, you've got to check out NeuroTouch Cranio. Developed by the National Research Council Canada, NeuroTouch is touted as the most advanced virtual reality neurosurgical simulator in the world. The simulator's objective is to improve patient safety through the use of virtual reality-based surgical rehearsal, training, planning, and evaluation.


NeuroTouch Neurosurgical Simulator

The simulator includes high-resolution haptics that give the user the ability to feel the difference between normal and tumor tissue during the virtual cranial microsurgery. The Neurosurgical Simulation Center at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital uses NeuroTouch to train for tumor debulking, hemostasis, and microdissection.

Tumor Debulking

In an effort to enhance the effectiveness of radiation, tumor debulking involves the removal of tumor tissue with an ultrasonic aspirator, while blood is aspirated with suction to clear the view.

Neurosurgical Simulator Tumor Debulking

Hemostasis

Hemostasis is a process used to stop bleeding through cauterization. Tissue close to the bipolar electrocautery tips begins to coagulate, tissue aspiration reveals deep tissue bleeding that is not coagulating and needs to be cauterized.

Neurosurgical Simulator Hemostasis

Microdissection

During microdissection, users practice an en-bloc dissection of a brain tumor using forceps and micro-scissors.

Neurosurgical Simulator Microdissection

NeuroTouch Cranio is a virtual reality simulator for select cranial microsurgery procedures that uses stereovision and bimanual tool handles with forced feedback, including cavitron ultrasonic surgical aspirators, bipolar and micro-scissors. The simulator computes real-time interactions between surgical tools and tissue, using contact algorithms and tool-specific interaction models to render tissue dissection, aspiration of liquids and cauterization. >.

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Virtual Reality in Healthcare Market to Reach $2.43 Billion by 2018

Global Industry Analysts Report: Demand for Innovative and Efficient Surgical Systems Drives the Global Market for Virtual Reality in Healthcare.

Global Industry Analysts (GIA) recently announced the release of a global report on virtual reality in the healthcare industry. The report determines that the demand for simulation-based medical training will drive the market for virtual reality in healthcare, and projects that the global market for healthcare simulator-based training will reach US$2.43 billion by the year 2018. The report also points to the ever-increasing performance and reliability of training simulators, the decreasing cost of high-power computing, and the current adoption rate of virtual reality technology in the healthcare sector over the past decade.

Within the medical industry, the need to improve training and efficiency while reducing costs is as important as in any other industry. Virtual training simulators are one of the most effective methods to provide the necessary training and instruction, while removing many of the barriers to entry due to cost and risk.

The report is titled "Virtual Reality in Healthcare - A Global Strategic Business Report" and includes comprehensive analytics for the United States, Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe, Japan, and 'The Rest of the World'. The report provides historic data for an insight into market evolution, growth drivers, market challenges, key issues, technology trends, and recent product innovations. The report also includes annual sales estimates and projections for the global market for the next 6 years (present - 2018).

Montefiore Medical Center: "Criterion-Based (Proficiency) Training to Improve Surgical Performance"

A recent report title "Criterion-Based (Proficiency) Training to Improve Surgical Performance" completed by Montefiore Medical Center is available from the Archives of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. The report determines that current requirements for surgical proficiency do not properly address the individual surgical capabilities of students, and that simulation-based training could vastly improve the skills of these surgeons-in-training before they ever operate on a living patient. The study's Principle Investigator, Dr. Marvin P. Fried, MD, FACS, University Chairman Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Montefiore Medical Center says:

Read more hehttp://www.heraldonline.com/2012/10/15/4338595/research-at-montefiore-medical.html#storylink=cpy

"We have been studying this subject since 2000 and the results of each of our studies have shown that technical abilities are highly individualistic, skill levels progress at varying speeds. Simulation training is an invaluable tool in creating a competent surgeon in a safe and controlled environment, which ultimately helps to ensure patient safety and produce the best outcomes."

Surgical simulators allow for additional training without the need for live patients and operating rooms, vastly improving healthcare safety and efficiency.

3D Heartbeat Simulator Visualizes Pulsation and Disease

The National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center in Osaka, Japan recently released a virtual heartbeat simulator running on typical off-the-shelf laptops, that is capable of simulating complex pulsations of the heart. Until now, accurately simulating heart pulsation in real-time 3D has taken offline super-computers to complete the job. With technology speed and power always increasing, off-the-shelf lap tops and gaming software-based simulators are now able to get the job done online, faster and more effectively.



Using a shape matching technology the software divides the heart into 7,000 individual shapes with bounding edges and constraints. The simulator allows trainees to simulate virtual heart attacks and heart diseases and take cross sections to examine and study a complex organ under a variety of conditions.

Medical training simulators can now provide highly realistic virtual learning environments that are safe and cost-effective, and allow for repeated practice-until-perfect, increasing the skill and proficiency of future surgeons. Training simulators include operator performance metric tracking systems, allowing trainees and instructurs to quickly identify what areas they need to focus on. In additional, sales and marketing staff can benefit from having a virtual product to demonstrate, rather than having to schedule real-world demonstrations on live patients.