Magical describes conditions that are outside our understanding of cause and effect. What cannot be attributed to human or natural forces is explained as magic: super-human, super-natural. Even in modern societies, magic-based explanations are powerful because, given the complexity of the universe, there are so many opportunities to use them. The history of medicine is defined by progress in understanding the human body - from magical explanations to measurable results. To continue medical progress, physicians and scientists must openly question traditional models. Valid inquiry demands a willingness to consider all possible solutions without prejudice. Medical politics should not perpetuate unproven assumptions nor curtail reasoned experimentation, unbiased measurement and well-informed analysis. For thirteen years, Medicine Meets Virtual Reality has been an incubator for technologies that create new medical understanding via the simulation, visualization and extension of reality. Researchers create imaginary patients because they offer a more reliable and controllable experience to the novice surgeon. With imaging tools, reality is purposefully distorted to reveal to the clinician what the eye alone cannot see. Robotics and intelligence networks allow the healer’s sight, hearing, touch and judgment to be extended across distance, as if by magic. The moments when scientific truth is suddenly revealed after lengthy observation, experimentation and measurement, is the real magic. These moments are not miraculous, however. They are human ingenuity in progress and they are documented here in this book.

In the early 1990s, a small group of individuals recognized how virtual reality (VR) could transform medicine by immersing physicians, students and patients in data more completely. Technical obstacles delayed progress but VR is now enjoying a renaissance, with breakthrough applications available for healthcare. This book presents papers from the Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 22 conference, held in Los Angeles, California, USA, in April 2016. Engineers, physicians, scientists, educators, students, industry, military, and futurists participated in its creative mix of unorthodox thinking and validated investigation. The topics covered include medical simulation and modeling, imaging and visualization, robotics, haptics, sensors, physical and mental rehabilitation tools, and more. Providing an overview of the state-of-the-art, this book will interest all those involved in medical VR and in innovative healthcare, generally.

Since 1992, when it began as the Medicine Meets Virtual Reality conference, NextMed/MMVR has been a forum for researchers utilizing IT advances to improve diagnosis and therapy, medical education, and procedural training. Scientists and engineers, physicians and other care providers, educators and students, military medicine specialists, futurists, and industry all come together with the shared goal of making healthcare more precise and effective.This book presents the proceedings of the 20th NextMed/MMVR conference, held in San Diego, California, USA, in February 2013. It covers a wide range of topics simulation, modeling,

Our culture is obsessed with design. Sometimes designers can fuse utility and fantasy to make the mundane appear fresh—a cosmetic repackaging of the same old thing. Because of this, medicine—grounded in the unforgiving realities of the scientific method and peer review, and of flesh, blood, and pain—can sometimes confuse “design” with mere “prettifying.” Design solves real problems, however. This collection of papers underwrites the importance of design for the MMVR community, within three different environments: in vivo, in vitro and in silico. in vivo: we design machines to explore our living bodies. Imaging devices, robots, and sensors move constantly inward, operating within smaller dimensions: system, organ, cell, DNA. in vitro: Using test tubes and Petri dishes, we isolate in vivo to better manipulate and measure biological conditions and reactions. in silico: We step out of the controlled in vitro environment and into a virtual reality. The silica mini-worlds of test tubes and Petri dishes are translated into mini-worlds contained within silicon chips. The future of medicine remains within all three environments: in vivo, in vitro, and in silico. Design is what makes these pieces fit together—the biological, the informational, the physical/material—into something new and more useful.

The remarkable accomplishments of the IT industry and the Internet are trickling steadily into healthcare. This series provides more effective healthcare at a lower overall cost, driven by cheaper and better computers.

The 17th annual Medicine Meets Virtual Reality (MMVR17) was held January 19-22, 2009, in Long Beach, CA, USA. The conference is well established as a forum for emerging data-centered technologies for medical care and education. This proceedings volume is of interest to physicians, surgeons and other medical professionals.

Medicine is Art Medicine is supported by Science Medicine is enabled by Technology One will learn how leading-edge technology will affect the future of medical and surgical practice by improving access, quality, and continuity of care, while reducing cost. Contributors to the book are the world s leading researchers and developers in the field. Readers: Physicians, Surgeons, Information Scientists, Biomedical Professionals, Corporate Futurists, Biomechanical Engineers, Educators, Roboticists, Medical Technologists, Rehabilitation Specialists, Systems Integrators/Engineers, Psychotherapists/Behaviourists.

A physician who is treating a patient confronts a complex and incompletely understood living system that is sensitive to pain. An engineer or programmer who develops a new device, on the other hand, operates within the less emotional domains of materials and mathematics. The Medicine Meets Virtual Reality (MMVR) conference brings together physicians, scientists, engineers, educators, students, and others to bridge the gap between clinicians and technologists, and to create collaborative solutions to healthcare challenges. This book presents the proceedings of the Medicine Meets Virtual Reality conference (MMVR19), held in Newport Beach, California, USA, in February 2012. It includes papers on modeling and simulation, imaging, data visualization and fusion, haptics, robotics, telemedicine and medical intelligence networking, virtual and augmented reality, psychotherapy and physical rehabilitation tools, serious games, and other topics. MMVR stimulates interaction between developers and end users and promotes unorthodox problem-solving as a complement to rigorous scientific methodology. This book will interest all who are involved with the future of medicine. close

Since the debut of the Medicine Meets Virtual Reality (MMVR) conference in 1992, MMVR has served as a forum for researchers harnessing IT advances for the benefit of patient diagnosis and care, medical education and procedural training. At MMVR, virtual reality becomes a theatre for medicine, where multiple senses are engaged - sight, sound and touch - and language and image fuse. Precisely because this theatre is unreal, it is a valuable tool: the risks of experimentation and failure are gone, while the opportunity to understand remains. Improvement of this tool, through steady technological progress, is the purpose of MMVR. This book presents papers delivered at the MMVR18 / NextMed conference, held in Newport Beach, California, in February 2011, with contributions from international researchers whose work creates new devices and methods at the juncture of informatics and medicine. Subjects covered include simulation and learning, visualization and information-guided therapy, robotics and haptics, virtual reality and advanced ICT in Europe, validation of new surgical techniques, and many other applications of virtual-reality technology. As its name suggests, the NextMed conference looks forward to the expanding role that virtual reality can play in global healthcare. This overview of current technology will interest those who dedicate themselves to improving medicine through technology.

Measurement of In-vivo Force Response of Intra-abdominal Soft Tissues for Surgical Simulation -- Estimation of Soft-Tissue Model Parameters Using Registered Pre- and Postoperative Facial Surface Scans -- Virtual Endoscopy using Spherical QuickTime-VR Panorama Views -- Integration of intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) dose distribution into the postoperative CT-based external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) treatment planing -- The application of eyeglass displays in changing the perception of pain -- Evaluation of Visualization Techniques for Image-guided Navigation in Liver Surgery -- Enhanced stereographic x-ray images -- The Communication Between Therapist and Patient in Virtual Reality: The Role of Mediation Played by Computer Technology -- Virtual Reality Assisted Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for the Treatment of Panic Disorders with Agoraphobia. -- Dextrous and Shared Interaction with Medical Data: stereoscopic vision is more important than hand-image collocation -- Usability Analysis of VR Simulation Software -- Elastically Deformable 3D Organs for Haptic Surgical Simulation -- A Generic Arthroscopy Simulator Architecture -- Virtual Reality in 3D Echocardiography: Dynamic Visualization of Atrioventricular Annuli Surface Models and Volume Rendered Doppler-Ultrasound -- Engineering and Algorithm Design for an Image Processing API: A Technical Report on ITK - the Insight Toolkit -- Finite Element (FE) Modeling of the Mandible: from Geometric Model to Tetrahedral Volumetric Mesh -- Author Index