The Virtual Autopsy Table allows users to examine a 3D virtual cadaver using a touchscreen interface.

For those of you who miss playing Operation and want to take the game to the next level, may I present the Virtual Autopsy Table. Built more like a steamer trunk, the VAT allows you to use a multi-touch screen to explore a 3D virtual human body layer by layer. Developed in Sweden by the Noorkoping Visualization Center and the Center for Medical Image Sciences and Visualization, the body on display was painstakingly created using the latest in high resolution MRI scans. There’s nowhere in the body you can’t examine with a few flips of your hand across the screen. It’s just like a real autopsy, only without all the goo. Check out the cool demonstration video after the break.

The virtual exploration of the body is a great educational tool for students and professionals. We’ve seen a similar 3D experience with Visible Body’s online model. One day, the VAT could be an integral part of medical school, or even see use in museums across the world. The multi-touch screen is an intuitive way to access the information contained in the VAT, demonstrating how touchscreen technology is at the forefront of the new human-machine interface paradigm.

Perhaps more importantly though, the VAT is based on technology that is helping law enforcement agents solve crimes. As you’ll see in this second video, the Noorkoping Visualization Center can use MRI and CT scans to examine the bodies of real victims, providing a means to perform an autopsy without a single cut. The results are crystal clear images that can help inform a jury as to the nature of a crime.

Both the VAT and the virtual autopsy technology behind it can explore the body being examined by peeling off layers. In this fashion you can look at the fractures in bones, or the damage to blood vessels without other body systems getting in the way of what you want to see. As with a traditional autopsy, cutting is an important tool, and virtual autopsies allow the use of a virtual knife to take cross sections of the body. As stated in the video, the ability to produce high resolution images of the exact location of damage on a corpse is an unparalleled tool in convincing jurists of the nature of a crime. In the justice system, seeing is believing, and providing information without the gruesome mood of an autopsy photo allows for a more welcome understanding in the courtroom.

While the VAT will likely prove a useful educational tool, and the virtual autopsy technology is already set to innovate the labs of medical examiners, the bigger story here is that the NVC made a touchscreen device at all. The Noorkoping Visualization Center’s choice to produce a touchscreen version of their virtual autopsy is just one example in a trend of the wider use of the devices to engage audiences. While it doesn’t have the flair of the touchscreen wall at the Hard Rock Cafe in Vegas, the VAT does fit a similar role: providing an intuitive way to share information quickly and effectively among several users at once. In the years ahead we may see more scientific and technical fields adapt technologies to be accessed in a touchscreen format. Maybe they’ll make a virtual safari table for all you Hungry Hungry Hippos fans out there.

[photo and video credits: Norrkoping Visualization Center]

Visible Body from Argosy, is a new, gorgeously rendered, 3D interactive model of the human body.

Explore Your Body

It used to be that any capable surgeon also had to be a capable grave robber. How else were you going to get those fresh cadavers to work on? Visible Body has taken the fresh corpse on the slab and brought it into the 21st century. Argosy Publishing’s latest brain child, Visible Body is a fully interactive 3D color display of the human body available free online. Its painstakingly rendered graphics detail 1700 anatomical structures, including all of the major systems of the body. Yet it is simple enough to allow even a beginning user to explore the body easily.

“The Visible Body is the result of years of development and collaboration between our specially trained team of biomedical visualization experts and software engineers. ” – Visible Body FAQ

Visible Body is like architectural software for the human form. Anyone familiar with AutoCAD will quickly see the similarities. Users can add or remove layers, rotate and zoom in three dimensions, and change transparency to help them navigate. The ease of movement makes Visible Body feel like a practical research tool. The control panels are mostly intuitive, and the search bar is simple but effective.

Still, there’s no better proof than seeing Visible Body in action, so check out one of their tutorials below:

A Brand New You

Is Visible Body’s 3D approach innovative? Certainly a three dimensional representation of the body would seem like a logical progression from two dimensional textbooks. The fact that Argosy spent so much time and effort to make Visible Body accurate and easy to use is laudable. But the actual idea isn’t all that surprising. Zygote Media Group has similar products, but these are exclusively designed for commercial use. What makes Visible Body so revolutionary may depend less on what it is, and more on how it is being offered.

“The Visible Body is the most complete, highly detailed, and anatomically accurate human body model available. It is designed to deliver the level of detail necessary to teach a college-level Anatomy and Physiology course. ” – Visible Body FAQ

Visible body can be used by anyone at anytime, provided they have an internet connection. The most obvious use, that of teaching anatomy and physiology, is just the tip of the iceberg. Argosy has openly solicited partnerships and commercial versions for their new product. We may see major pharmacological companies use Visible Body to give detailed explanations of drug effects and concerns. Visible Body can be adapted to display medical devices (such as joint replacements) in their proper location. Nearly every specialized field or interest in medicine will benefit from some adaptation of its use. As Visible Body becomes more well known we may find it to be one of THE universally referenced applications. It is already available for iPhones and iPods, it will be in classrooms, and in some form it will likely be used in operating rooms, doctor’s offices, and pharmacies. Whether or not Argosy adopts an open api for Visible Body, the commercial uses and partnerships will likely be lucrative enough that they will always provide some high quality version for free public use.

As I play with the nervous system, rotating the brain to make it look like a wrinkled walnut, I get the distinct impression that I am toying with a piece of software that will be the next Wikipedia, or the next Amazon. It’s not there yet, there are still several short comings that remind us that we are looking at a Beta product. There are clipping issues, one-way mirror effects, only a female version, body parts that haven’t been included yet, and the spatial relations have been tinkered with to make viewing easier. Still, give it time, and I think Visible Body will be bookmarked on everyone’s browser. Go ahead, add it to your own.

]]> http://singularityhub.com/2009/04/15/visible-body-takes-you-on-an-incredible-voyage/feed/ 2