Slide 21 of 24
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Biomedical Tele-Immersion for the Next Generation Internet
Jonathan C. Silverstein, MD, MS Assistant Professor of Surgery and Information Sciences University of Illinois at Chicago
Rapid expansion of knowledge in biomedicine challenges university educational programs to provide expertise in all areas. Surgical education is further compounded by limited availability of biological materials and shrinking availability of expert educators for increasingly specialized procedures. By combining teleconferencing, telepresence, and virtual reality, Tele-immersion enables teachers and students to interact with three-dimensional models, point, gesture, converse, and see each other. Tele-immersion combines the superior display of CAVE and ImmersaDesk virtual reality systems with advanced network capabilities to make learning environments so compelling that people use them even when they are in the same room. We will demonstrate and assess Tele-immersive environments for surgical education. Our team at the University of Illinois at Chicago includes medical and visualization experts from the Virtual Reality in Medicine Laboratory and virtual reality and networking experts from the Electronic Visualization Lab. This collaboration has already produced successful demonstrations of Tele-immersive biomedical environments, including the Virtual Temporal Bone Advanced network features of the Next Generation Internet, such as quality of service guarantees and data privacy and security will permit Tele-immersive environments derived from models of patient data. This may ultimately have widespread impact on daily practice of the surgical specialties.
The Virtual Pelvic Floor is a new method of teaching the complex anatomy of the pelvic region utilizing virtual reality and advanced networking technology. Two or more ImmersaDeskTM systems, drafting table format virtual reality displays, are networked together providing an environment where teacher and students share a high quality three-dimensional anatomical model, and are able to converse, see each other, and to point in three dimensions to indicate areas of interest. This project was realized by the teamwork of surgeons, medical artists and sculptors, computer scientists, and computer visualization experts. It demonstrates the future of virtual reality for surgical education and applications for the Next Generation Internet.
The model, which viewers explore using a wand and a special pair of eyeglasses while facing a 20-square-foot screen called an ImmersaDeskTM, allows surgeons to familiarize themselves with the complex spatial relationships of structures composing the ear. It also offers students of all ages an unprecedented opportunity to "get inside" a hidden part of the body.
