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EUS meets VOXEL-MAN

EUS meets VOXEL-MAN is a multimedia training system for gastroenterology, which provides a unique approach to longitudinal endoscopic ultrasound (EUS). Due to the flexible tip of the endoscope, this imaging modality produces oblique cross-sectional images, whose interpretation requires a very good understanding of the human anatomy.

Training system for linear type endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)As a core element, the app simulates the movements of a endosonographic longitudinal transducer inside the human body. It can be placed at six different positions in the upper gastrointestinal tract:

  1. Upper esophagus
  2. Mid-esophagus
  3. Gastric fundus
  4. Duodenal bulb
  5. Duodenum at the level of the papilla
  6. Deep part of the duodenum

Navigation of the virtual probe is controlled with a mouse or touch screen, simulating the rotation and sideways angulation of the tip of the endoscope.

The scenes displayed on the monitor were created from a high resolution model of the inner organs derived from the Visible Human. They consist of a three-dimensional view of the anatomy on the left side of the screen, indicating the current position and orientation of the ultrasound probe relative to important structures such as vessels and organs, and the resulting anatomical cross-sections shown on the right. For comparison with clinical EUS examinations, they are complemented with a typical sector image of a linear EUS instrument.

Although this approach provides only two degrees of freedom for simulation of the probe instead of six available in a real examination, all of the important landmark structures can be found. By providing a better insight, the application makes an important contribution to patient safety.

Availability

EUS meets VOXEL-MAN is out of print. Discover the brand new VOXEL-MAN Sonography training simulator!

References

  1. Eike Burmester, Thomas Leineweber, Silke Hacker, Ulf Tiede: EUS meets VOXEL-MAN. Hitachi Medical Systems, Wiesbaden, 2007. (DVD, ISBN 978-3-00-019545-7).
  2. Eike Burmester, Thomas Leineweber, Silke Hacker, Ulf Tiede, Thomas H. Hütteroth, Karl Heinz Höhne: EUS meets VOXEL-MAN: Three-dimensional anatomic animation of linear-array endoscopic ultrasound images. Endoscopy 36 (8), 2004, 726-730.
  3. Eike Burmester, Thomas Leineweber, Ulf Tiede: EUS meets VOXEL-MAN: Ein virtuelles Trainingsprogramm für den endoskopischen longitudinalen Ultraschall. In Christoph F. Dietrich (ed.): Endosonographie: Lehrbuch und Atlas des endoskopischen Ultraschalls. Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart, 2008, 13-17.

 

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