Vesalius project: interactive computers in anatomical instruction

Thomas O. McCracken; Stephen D. Roper; Thomas L. Spurgeon

doi:10.1117/12.25098

1 April 1991 Vesalius project: interactive computers in anatomical instruction

Thomas O. McCracken, Stephen D. Roper, Thomas L. Spurgeon

Proceedings Volume 1380, Biostereometric Technology and Applications; (1991) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.25098
Event: Advances in Intelligent Robotics Systems, 1990, Boston, MA, United States

Abstract

This project is based on an entirely new concept for teaching the structure and function of the human body a concept which combines traditional approaches gained from centuries of study of human anatomy with the most recent sophisticated 3-dimensional computer graphics display systems and laser disc technology. The end-point of the project is a high resolution interactive 3-D atlas of human/animal anatomy stored on a laser video disc and displayed on graphics workstations--an " electronic Gray''s Anatomy" . These displays will be used to teach the structure of the body and to give students and instructors an understanding of their own body in health and disease. To evaluate the software developed undergraduate students from the anatomy courses at CSU wil be allowed to work with the computer-generated images from the earliest stages of development. Feedback from these students will be incorporated into the software development. Furthermore once a relatively complete series of images has been generated groups of students will be selected at random to study anatomy with this new methodology and will be compared with control groups who utilize more traditional techniques. METHODOLOGY This is a complex project that requires many individual facets to be developed simultaneously (figure 1). We have established an important collaboration with the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda that will allow us to utilize a large cryotome with photographic systems and the expertise to operate it already available there. Indeed most of the elaborate apparatus such as graphics workstations needed for the project is currently available either at CSU or through collaborative arrangements with other institutions.

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Thomas O. McCracken, Stephen D. Roper, and Thomas L. Spurgeon "Vesalius project: interactive computers in anatomical instruction", Proc. SPIE 1380, Biostereometric Technology and Applications, (1 April 1991); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.25098

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