Sunday, June 18, 2000

Virtual reality new way to learn

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It's used in hospitals, schools

By Martha Irvine
The Associated Press

        CHICAGO — A medical resident wearing black-rimmed goggles stands before a projection screen and uses a computer to navigate through an oversized 3-D image of the human pelvis — a notoriously difficult part of the body to learn.

DR. THEODORE MASON STANDS BY A VIRTUAL REALITY MEDICAL LABORATORY SCREEN DISPLAYING AN IMAGE OF THE INNER EAR. (Associated Press photo) | ZOOM |

        Elsewhere, doctors combine scanned images and computer technology to view a patient's organs instead of taking simple X-rays or doing exploratory surgery.

        Still others create a computer model of a car-crash victim's damaged skull, allowing a medical sculptor to design and build a plate that fits perfectly before surgery even begins.

        These are a few ways that virtual reality — computer technology that allows the viewing of complex three-dimensional images of the body — is dramatically changing the way doctors work.

        “If a picture's worth a thousand words, then a model like this is worth a thousand pictures,” said Dr. Theodore Mason, chief resident in the Eye and Ear Infirmary at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

        By using computer-gener ated models, surgeons hope in the not-too-distant future to perform surgery on a patient's virtual organs before making the first cut on vital organs. And as the ability to transmit huge chunks of data improves, they envision the day when doctors will be able to examine and treat patients thousands of miles away.

        Virtual reality, which first caught the public's notice through sophisticated computer games, is already becoming an integral part of medical education. Researchers at UIC are using a $1.04 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to build computer-generated models of anatomy that will be shared with other medical institutions.

        Besides the pelvic floor and inner ear, UIC researchers will soon be able to share other virtual models, including one that would allow doctors to perform delicate surgery on the retina.

        “It shows anatomic structures in a way that are otherwise impossible to see,” said Dr. Jonathan Silverstein, a surgery professor and co-director of UIC's Virtual Reality lab.

        Other institutions are also beginning to use virtual reality to teach anatomy. At the University of California, San Diego, for example, researchers have developed a model of the sphenoid bone, a complex bone in the base of the cranium.

        “For probably 20 years, there's been an interest in using computers in teaching anatomy,” said Dr. Mark Whitehead, an anatomy professor at the UCSD medical school's department of surgery. “But to do graphics in real-time, three-dimensional ways takes a lot of computing power and takes some very sophisticated data.”

        To make the leap to virtual reality, researchers at UIC designed and built a large projector called the Immersadesk. Hooked into a Silicon Graphics supercomputer, the device tracks the head of anyone standing before its screen and wearing specially made goggles that are part of the technology. As the user moves, he or she is able to focus on different parts of the 3-D image that appears on the screen.

        The hardware and software cost about $500,000, although UIC officials say that price is expected to drop to about $100,000 soon.

        Experts say computer-aided techniques aren't meant to replace traditional learning tools such as cadaver dissection. But there are benefits, including the fact that it's a far cheaper way to train residents.

        Some say using the models to perform virtual surgery also will minimize mistakes in the same way flight simulators help new pilots.

        “Pilots don't crash airplanes full of people to train, but we do that to people in the operating room,” said Dr. Richard Satava, a surgery professor at Yale University who also sits on the American College of Surgeons' committee for emerging surgical technologies and education.

       

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