Skip to main content

CAMDASS could help untrained personnel perform complicated medical procedures

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

Popular posts from this blog

10 URLs to Find Out What Google Knows About You

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...

Nine government sites hit by cyber attacks: NIC

The National Informatics Center (NIC) has revealed that as many as nine government websites were defaced by recent cyber attacks. The center further said that the servers, which hosts these government sites, suffer a number of hacking attempts on a daily basis. The websites www.kumbh2010haridwar.gov.in, www.ueppcb.uk.gov.in, www.gov.ua.nic.in/ujn, www.cdodoon.gov.in, www.arunachal.nic.in,www.bee-india.nic.in, www.civilsupplieskerala.gov.in, www.mpcb.gov.in and www.informatics.nic.in were  defaced , prompting authorities to  ramp up  the cyber security safeguards. In an RTI reply, the NIC, which reports to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, said that it was impossible for the body to accurately quantify these attacks but they are usually blocked by security controls put in place. The Ministry was asked to provide details of hacking attempts made on the governments websites in the last ten years (2001-11) along with url names of the portal...

Solar car hits U.S. in round-the-world jaunt

Last October, the SolarWorld GT solar-powered car set out from Darwin, Australia on a drive around the world. It has since driven 3,001 kilometers (1,865 miles) across Australia, logged 1,947 km (1,210 miles) crossing New Zealand and been shipped across the Pacific Ocean. This Friday, it will embark on the U.S. leg of its journey, as it sets out across America from the University of California, Santa Barbara.   The SolarWorld GT is the result of a collaboration between solar panel manufacturer SolarWorld, and Bochum University of Applied Sciences in Germany. The four-wheeled, two-door, two-seat car gathers solar energy through photovoltaic panels built into its roof, with its solar generator offering a peak performance of 823 watts. Custom hub motors are located in both of the front wheels. The vehicle manages an average speed of 50 km/h (31 mph), with a claimed top speed of 100 km/h (62 mph). In order to demonstrate that solar powered cars needn't be a radical...