Med Ed 3D (2)

In the last post, I concluded that much of the growth and potential for 3D in education will find a promising foothold in medical fields—in universities, medical schools, teaching hospitals, surgery centers, continuing education offerings for various health professionals, and patient education. Three recent international examples support my humble hypothesis. Our second example is in the field of surgery.

Surgical Education

One firm, 3Dlivesurgery (based in Portugal but with partnerships throughout Europe), is leveraging its substantial experience in live stereoscopic 3D surgery to expand its services to offer a full range of impressive 3D medical offerings.  These offerings cover the complete ecosystem of 3D medical services: 3D live surgery (using specialty cameras), 3D consulting /video production (how to get the most out of a 3D visualization), 3D recording (for use/reuse formats), 3D event management (education and training events), and 3D media publishing /distribution.

Marco Neiva, the CEO of 3Dlivesurgery, advocates that “3D HD provides a true perception of depth for surgeons, closer to their experience in the real world.” He also suggests that the value proposition for 3D visualization goes well beyond reducing the time to perform procedures and lessening surgeon fatigue. It offers tremendous educational potential for the surgeon’s operating team, residency programs, interns, and hospital staff. He explains: “High definition 3-D visualization should shorten the learning curve for surgical skills transfer. Now, multiple observers - including residents, fellows, and attending physicians - can all see the operating surgeon's stereo view.”