An iPad in the OR: Exhibit from the German Cancer Research Center on the science exhibition ship “MS Wissenschaft”
When performing minimally invasive surgery, clinicians need to know precisely how to insert instruments into a target region without injuring nearby organs. SurgeryPad, an invention from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), may help them do so in the future. Over the next five months, visitors to the science exhibition ship "MS Wissenschaft" will have a chance to try out the new software system for themselves. The floating science fair starts on May 6 in Berlin.
© Michael Müller, DKFZ
When planning a minimally invasive surgical procedure, physicians gain better spatial orientation into a patient's anatomy using a virtual system. A group of scientists headed by Michael Müller from the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) has developed an application called SurgeryPad that facilitates this without the need for large diagnostic instruments: SurgeryPad runs on a tablet computer.
The method works like this: During surgery, a physician films the surface of a patient's body using the camera integrated into an iPad. SurgeryPad then superimposes these images with a virtual 3D model of the corresponding organs that has been reconstructed using a CT scan made prior to the operation. The system produces a virtual representation of the patient’s organ as seen from the exact point of view of the surgeon. This is made possible by colored reference markers attached to the skin of the patient. The SurgeryPad software uses their coordinates to determine the spatial orientation of the tablet computer and constructs a real-time, corresponding view of the inside of the body.
Starting on May 6, interested members of the public from all over Germany will have a chance to try out SurgeryPad for themselves on the exhibition ship "MS Wissenschaft" ("MS Science"). The theme of this year's exhibition inside the big cargo ship is "Digital Society." It presents more than 30 interactive exhibits demonstrating multiple uses of digital technology, with a particular focus on the role that science and research have played in their development. The exhibit will tour German rivers on board the “MS Wissenschaft” for five months.
Michael Müller, who developed SurgeryPad, gave a demonstration of the system to Federal Minister of Education and Research Prof. Johanna Wanka at the exhibition’s opening on May 6. "Minimally invasive surgical operations or biopsies are being used ever more widely,” says Müller, a specialist in medical informatics. “Systems such as SurgeryPad, which are based on augmented reality, support physicians’ spatial imagination and will help them perform these interventions more precisely and more gently in the future."
When and where will the “MS Wissenschaft” land? Click here for the tour plan:
http://www.ms-wissenschaft.de/tour.html
With more than 3,000 employees, the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) is Germany’s largest biomedical research institute. DKFZ scientists identify cancer risk factors, investigate how cancer progresses and develop new cancer prevention strategies. They are also developing new methods to diagnose tumors more precisely and treat cancer patients more successfully. The DKFZ's Cancer Information Service (KID) provides patients, interested citizens and experts with individual answers to questions relating to cancer.
To transfer promising approaches from cancer research to the clinic and thus improve the prognosis of cancer patients, the DKFZ cooperates with excellent research institutions and university hospitals throughout Germany:
The DKFZ is 90 percent financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and 10 percent by the state of Baden-Württemberg. The DKFZ is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers.
