NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

SEPT. 1998. NASA SOFTWARE SCALPEL HELPS DOCTORS PRACTICE OPERATIONS (SAMPLE OF `VIRTUAL HOSPITAL' TECHNOLOGY)

A `software scalpel' used with clear, accurate three-dimensional (3-D) images made from a series of scans of the human head will help doctors practice reconstructive surgery and better predict the outcome.

A physician wearing 3-D glasses can see an image of a patient's head from all angles on a computer monitor or on the surface of a large "immersive virtual reality work bench" that includes rear projection of a computer image. Virtual reality is a computer-created environment that simulates a real-life situation.

"To predict what the result will be in a real operation, the surgeon uses a computer mouse to mark the incision location and to ask the computer to `cut' bone," said Muriel Ross of NASA's Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA. Ross is director of the Ames Center for Bioinformatics which uses computer technology to improve medical practices. "The doctor can then remove the simulated `piece of bone,' or can place it at a new angle or in a new position."

"Because some patients have severe injury to the head or diseases such as cancer, at times physicians must rebuild a person's head or face," said Ross.

"We are working on an addition to the scalpel software that would allow us to `snap' a face back onto the 3-D image of the skull on which a doctor has practiced an operation," she said. "The doctor and the patient can then get a better idea of how the face will look after the actual operation."

NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, signed an agreement with Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital on Sept. 9, 1998, to partner in the implementation of state-of-the-art information technologies (such as the software scalpel) to develop a "virtual hospital" by January 1999.

PHOTO CREDIT: NASA Ames Home Page, Tom Trower

VIRTUAL VIEWER USED TO SEE 3-D IMAGES OF INNER EAR BALANCE CELLS, 1993

Rei Cheng uses a virtual environment viewer to see greatly enlarged images of cells from the balance organs of the inner ear. She wears a special glove that allows her to "manipulate" the virtual three dimensional image that she is examining.

Dr. Muriel Ross (not shown) is director of the NASA Ames Center for Bioinformatics at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. Ames is collaborating with the Department of Functional Restoration at Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, CA, to develop the technology. One of their goals is to develop a virtual environment workbench for planning complex craniofacial reconstructive surgery and other surgeries including breast reconstruction for mastectomy patients.

This NASA technology will enable surgeons to plan complex surgical procedures and to visualize the potential results of reconstructive surgery in a three-dimensional virtual environment simulator.

Some biocomputation researchers predict that by the year 2000 a virtual hospital could be established which may eventually link the best medical minds worldwide as well as treat patients. The 'virtual hospital' would use computer tools such as the virtual workbench. NASA and Stanford University School of Medicine recently established a National Biocomputation Center on the university's campus in Palo Alto, CA.

COMPUTERIZED IMAGES OF CELLS FROM BALANCE ORGANS OF THE INNER EAR, June 1996

Dr. Muriel Ross (left) with Heidi Harbaugh use computer workstation to examine transmission electronic microscope images of cells from the balance organs of the inner ear for reconstruction.

PHOTO CREDIT: Photo by Tom Trower

3-D COMPUTER IMAGE OF RECONSTRUCTED HEAD, June 1996

High resolution three-dimensional (3-D) visualization of the skull and face. This image was reconstructed from a formatted CT scan, using ROSS.CT software in the NASA Ames Center for Bioinformatics at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. This NASA technology will enable surgeons to plan complex surgical procedures and to visualize the potential results of reconstructive surgery in a virtual environment simulator. Rei Cheng (left) and Dr. Muriel Ross work to maneuver the skull and tissue while wearing 3-D glasses.

IMMERSIVE ENVIRONMENT WORK BENCH, 12-27-96

Rea Cheng (left) and Dr. Muriel Ross use the immersive environment work bench to view an image of a skull reconstucted from a CT scan. The image was reconstructed from a formatted CT scan, using Ross.CT software in the NASA Ames Center for Bioinformatics at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. This NASA technology will enable surgeons to plan complex surgical procedures and to visualize the potential results of reconstructive surgery in a virtual environment simulator