The UB research group is modeling on the computer the soft tissue and organs of the human abdomen, using atomic-unit-type modeling that breaks up human tissues into pieces measuring no more than 8mm.
The system takes as its raw material the Visible Human Data Set developed by the National Institutes of Health that features complete, digitized data sets of the human body.
Using a very powerful graphics computer, the researchers "supersample" smaller and smaller sections of the data set for a given body part or organ, enabling them to get more and more detailed pictures of each one and develop increasingly complex equations about how each tiny section will respond to applied forces. They then create layers of these sections, gradually building the collection of samples into the complete organ.
"Our big contribution is that we are writing algorithms to model how soft tissue deforms as a real mass, rather than just as a surface, which is what many groups are currently doing. No one else is doing this in real time," said Kevin Chugh, a UB doctoral student in computer science who is a co-author on the research.
"We will be able to touch the model with a haptic thimble -- the physically based VR counterpart of a computer mouse -- on the screen, apply the 'force' using a 'haptics' feedback system and show how it deforms and then bounces back when the force is withdrawn."
The work is based on a solid understanding of the physics behind what happens when pressure is applied to different parts of the human body.
"While the physician is doing a palpation on a patient, the computer -- through the VR glove -- is picking up all the information about what anatomic-force characteristics the doctor's finger is feeling," said Kesavadas.
He noted that only a handfu
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Contact: Ellen Goldbaum
goldbaum@buffalo.edu
716-645-5000 ext1415
University at Buffalo
30-May-2000