3D electronic medical records: Click on body parts to get medical information

In five years, today's science fiction will become pure and simple science, when users can access health information through 3D interfaces (which we have seen in movies).

Scientists are already pioneering new ways to visualize 3D data. New techniques allow engineers to design everything from architecture to software programming, simulate the spread of disease across interactive 3D spheres, and visualize health trends around the world with zero (or minimal) distortion.

Researchers are also exploring new 3D nanopatterning methodologies. This patterning technology opens up new horizons for the development of nanoscale objects in electronics, future chip technology, medicine, life sciences, and optoelectronics. To demonstrate this technology, scientists from IBM drew a 3D map of the Earth on a piece of polymer, writing it in just 2 minutes and 23 seconds. The map is so small that a thousand of them could fit on a grain of salt.

Meanwhile, work is underway to transform video calls into holographic ones, with a technology called “3D telepresence” that reconstructs photos using light beams that change when they hit an object. This revolution will slowly make its way into healthcare, expanding 3D technology from medical imaging to patient treatment, training, and education.

Although these advanced 3D examples are still in the laboratory stage, the current improvements in computing performance, display resolution, and storage capacity will help 3D technology enter a new stage, when 3D technology will be more widely used in more fields, including cutting-edge imaging and diagnosis, medical research, and patient data analysis.

The use of 3D technology in healthcare is nothing new to the industry. 3D technology has been used in surgery and medical imaging for some time. In fact, according to a global market report, the global 3D medical imaging market is expected to reach $3.9 billion in 2012.

Moreover, combining 3D imaging with advanced technologies in health analysis and algorithms will further improve the efficiency of imaging applications. For example, in the United States, IBM is working with the Mayo Clinic to write an advanced algorithm that uses 3D images to perform more complex analysis of the brain, increasing the probability of finding aneurysms from 70% to 90%.

The new method uses analytical technology developed by Mayo Clinic and IBM in the Center for Innovation in Medical Imaging Informatics. The technology has an accuracy rate of 95% in detecting aneurysms, while human interpretation is only 70%. The project's findings are published online December 24, 2009 in the Journal of Digital Imaging.

Since the project began, 15 million images from thousands of patients have been processed. The combination of advanced imaging technology and analytical techniques increases the chances of doctors finding aneurysms before brain bleeding or nerve damage. Mayo Clinic expects to use similar methods in the future to diagnose cancer or blood vessel malformations in other parts of the body.

Another growth area for 3D technology is patient education. For example, the recently launched beta version of Google Body Browser provides a detailed 3D model of the human body. Users can peel back the anatomical layers, zoom in and click to identify human structures or search the Internet for muscles, organs, bones, etc.

In addition to simply browsing the human body in 3D, this representation can be extended to the field of 3D electronic medical records. The 3D representation of human tissue structure can help medical staff easily browse patients' electronic medical records. Electronic medical data processed by advanced analytical and semantic technologies can allow medical service providers to click on specific parts of the body to obtain relevant medical information without combing through electronic documents or even paper files. Using this computer-generated image of the human body is like a topographic map of the human body. The image can be rotated and moved to show different levels of the body. Educational and medical information related to this part of the body can be shared with patients and caregivers, and it also gives clinicians a detailed browsing tool when accessing patient information through medical records.

3D technology also creates new ways to display patient information, making the collected data more useful to doctors and nurses. IBM Research Center is studying methods for analyzing similarities and differences between different patient groups and displaying this information in new ways. Observing the patterns and relationships of patient groups in three dimensions can significantly improve traditional diagnosis and treatment plans.

It also supports both patient-centric and disease-centric analytics to determine which treatments are most effective and why, and which healthcare providers are most successful in treating specific patient groups.

As 3D technology continues to develop, its applications will increase. 3D technology has the potential to change the way patients and medical staff interact with the human body.