Winston-Salem Business Magazine - April 2008 - (Page 11)

BUSINESS Front Now lets imagine that the doctor could then choose a specific part of the body – for example a bone or an organ and “print” out that actual body part in three dimensions. at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine here in Winston-Salem. Much of the information we have discussed previously in this article is only the tip of the iceberg as far as this technology is concerned. In the future, doctors and surgeons will be able to see three-dimensional imagery of the inside of a patient before and while performing surgery. The doctor will already have all of the information needed to perform a successful surgery and will be able to see in real-time what is taking place internally as he performs the surgery. This is a key factor as often a surgeon may be operating behind an organ and therefore has very limited visibility. Taking this further, the doctor who is going to perform surgery on a patient who has, for example, a fractured hip, can print out the actual threedimensional replica of the hip and see exactly where the breaks are and formulate an approach to fix it before any surgery is performed. With the imaging equipment being used, technicians have the ability to not only scan the body but can also go down to a cellular level and perform scans on cells. A technology is currently under development whereby the threedimensional images that are being generated are projected onto ionized air, which allows an image to be projected onto it, similar to fog, resulting in a three-dimensional floating hologram. To aid the surgeons and doctors, a technology is also under development whereby the surgeon would be able to virtually move the image he is working with by moving his hand in mid-air. Currently the doctors need to use a mouse inside a plastic bag to work with the images on the computer as they perform the surgery. The new technology would track the doctor’s finger and allow him to move his hand in mid-air, which would then be translated into movement on the computer screen. The doctor would then essentially be interacting with the three-dimensional image on the computer, using only finger or hand movements. The new imaging technology being used in the imaging center is also being used in conjunction with Dr. Anthony Atala and the Institute for Regenerative Medicine where organs are being grown from stem cells. Combine these leaps in technology, and we are sure to see some revolutionary strides in medicine in the years to come. The doctor would have the ability to simply remove anything in the way of his view with the drag of a mouse and even go inside the organ to visually see if a problem exists. Click here for video WINSTON-SALEM BUSINESS | 11 http://filebox.vt.edu/users/joshtan/wschamber/aneurism.avi

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Winston-Salem Business Magazine - April 2008

Winston-Salem Business Magazine - April 2008 Contents Wake Forest University Smitty's Notes BBB Marketplace Ethics Awards Better Business Bureau A Winning Market Strategy ENFO Solutions Serving Winston-Salem for 80 Years Business Bites Money Matters Intelligent Communities Smart Marketing Local Business Calendar

Winston-Salem Business Magazine - April 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.