Skip to main content

CAMDASS could help untrained personnel perform complicated medical procedures

By
Before we are able to download knowledge straight to our brains - Matrix style - gaining medical expertise will remain a slow and painful process. That's fine by most people, who can just go and visit a trained doctor. But what if you are a member of a small team of specialists operating at a remote, isolated location with no immediate access to medical resources? Then you either need to be a doctor, or you need the Computer Assisted Medical Diagnosis and Surgery System. Devised by the European Space Agency (ESA), the augmented reality-based CAMDASS aims to provide astronauts with instant medical know-how.

The underlying idea here is to provide automated, step-by-step guidance to an untrained operator of a medical device. A head-mounted display unit is used to superimpose instructional images on what the person performing the medical procedure is actually seeing. A section of the subject's body is "registered" by the system using a set of markers. The resultant image is then merged with a corresponding image of a model patient.
Currently a working prototype has been built to facilitate ultrasound examinations, already widely performed on board of the International Space Station. The ultrasound probe linked with CAMDASS is tracked by a stand-alone infrared camera. After calibration, the image of the patient's body presented to the wearer of the head-mounted unit includes 3D augmented reality cues that inform the aspiring physician on how to manipulate the probe. Further guidance is provided by reference ultrasound images, showing what the wearer should be seeing. These can be controlled by voice commands.
Untrained users who participated in tests carried out at Saint-Pierre University Hospital in Brussels reported they were able to perform fairly complicated procedures on their own, without any external help. "Based on that experience, we are looking at refining the system - for instance, reducing the weight of the head-mounted display as well as the overall bulkiness of the prototype," explained Arnaud Runge, a biomedical engineer overseeing the project for ESA.
Ultrasound examinations are, of course, just the tip of the iceberg in terms of possible medical applications. With the right extensions and modifications, the system could possibly be used even for surgery. The researchers already plan to do more testing in remote locations (such as the Concordia Antarctic base) as well as in developing countries. Eventually, should terrestrial tests show satisfactory results, the telemedicine system is planned to be used for remote medical assistance via satellite.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10 URLs to Find Out What Google Knows About You

By
Google is much more than just a search giant. It is also home to many of your favorite products: Gmail, YouTube, and Chrome, just to name a few. Apart from that, it also offers many products to help you  keep track of your data . Most of these are  hidden deep  inside the My Account dashboard, which many users don’t really know of. These hidden tools  may reveal interesting details  about your usage of Google’s many services. We’ve compiled a list of important Google URLs of some  hidden tools  that carry information of what you did with Google, mostly from the searches that you have made on their many products, the voice searches and typed out Google searches that you have made. Are you ready to  find out what how Google knows about you ? 1.  Google Dashboard Google Dashboard offers  transparency and control over the personal data stored with your Google Account. You can  view  and  manage the data gener...
Post a Comment
Read more

Wind Turbines

By
The Bahrain World Trade Center is the first skyscraper to have wind turbines integrated into the structure of the building.Three large wind turbines are suspended between two office towers. The towers are aerodynamically tapered to funnel wind and draw air into the turbines. This airfoil tapering allows the wind to enter the turbines at a perpendicular angle and increases air speed as much as 30 percent in each of the 95 ft wide turbine rotors. The turbines supply about 15 percent of the electricity used by the skyscraper - approximately the same amount of electricity used by 300 homes. Source: www.norwin.dk
Post a Comment
Read more

Edible water balloons that could get rid of the need for plastic bottles

By
In case you didn’t know, bottled water is destroying the planet. We know that we need to be drinking plenty of water. It’s important. But the plastic bottles they’re sold in are terrible for the environment. One solution is using reusable bottles that you can fill from any nearby taps instead of buying a new bottle each time. Another solution is much more exciting. A group of engineers from Skipping Rocks Lab have developed a wonderful thing called The Ooho!. It’s a globe filled water that you can pop in your mouth whole. The outer shell is made of algae, so it’s edible and biodegradable. Meaning there’s no need for packaging or plastic – the globes of water are self-contained and ready to consume. Exciting, right? Plus they’re wobbly and they look cool, which is always a bonus. The team have now created a crowdfunding page to make their creation available to the public, with goals of selling The Ooho! at festival and marathons within the next 12 m...
Post a Comment
Read more