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This story is from the category Health
Date posted: 05/10/2008 A collaboration between three physicians at Heart Hospital in London and Glassworks, a UK digital animation firm, has produced a digital model of the heart that can interface with a virtual TEE simulator, and a haptic device for physical feedback with a human mannequin. Through a chance meeting at a dinner party 2 years ago, Glassworks were asked to create a Virtual Heart Simulator that allows the user to interact with an animated, realistic, anatomically accurate, 'virtual' 3D model of the heart in real time. The brief required the operator to be able to control the orientation of the heart and make planar slices in any orientation through the heart on the computer screen. From these slices the operator would be able to show the anatomical relationships between the various internal and external structures of the heart. This Simulator would produce a real-time rendition of a photo-realistic computer graphics heart that could be sliced interracially on any plain and produce a completely authentic graphic ultrasonic representation of that plain instantly. During development it became clear that the accuracy of the 3D model and the quality of the real time render engine combined, would have far wider benefits than originally envisaged. It could be used for transoesophageal as well as conventional echocardiography teaching purposes, for angiography, cardiac surgery and a great variety of other applications in anatomy and education. Using Heartworks, a trainee inserts a model probe into a specially designed dummy patient torso. A screen displays any combination of accurate simulated ultrasound images; a detailed model heart, which can be cut away as required to see its internal workings; and labels of 130 structures in the heart. The probe can be moved up or down and rotated through different planes of viewing, as would occur during surgery. This allows the user to directly relate what they see in the ultrasound image to the heart structures so they will know everything is functioning correctly in a real operation. Throughout it all, the heart continues beating and its constituent parts (such as the valves and chamber walls) behave realistically. See the full Story via external site: www.glassworks.co.uk Most recent stories in this category (Health): 01/05/2013: Microelectronics: Taking the heat off microfluidic chips |
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