<p class="title">Doctors could soon put down scalpels and peek under patients' skin, thanks to a new augmented reality system that displays internal anatomy right on the body, scientists say.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The system, called ProjectDR, allows medical images such as CT scans and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data to be displayed directly on a patient's body in a way that moves as the patient does.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We wanted to create a system that would show clinicians a patient's internal anatomy within the context of the body," said Ian Watts from University of Alberta in Canada.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Augmented reality (AR) is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are "augmented" by computer-generated perceptual information.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The technology in the new system includes a motion- tracking system using infrared cameras and markers on the patient's body, as well as a projector to display the images.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, the really difficult part, Watts said, is having the image track properly on the patient's body even as they shift and move.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The solution: custom software written by Watts that gets all of the components working together.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"There are lots of applications for this technology, including in teaching, physiotherapy, laparoscopic surgery and even surgical planning," said Watts, who developed the technology with fellow graduate student Michael Fiest.</p>.<p class="bodytext">ProjectDR also has the capacity to present segmented images - for example, only the lungs or only the blood vessels - depending on what a clinician is interested in seeing.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Watts is working on refining ProjectDR to improve the system's automatic calibration and to add components such as depth sensors.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The next steps are testing the programme's viability in a clinical setting, said Pierre Boulanger, a professor at the University of Alberta.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Soon, we will deploy ProjectDR in an operating room in a surgical simulation laboratory to test the pros and cons in real-life surgical applications," said Boulanger.</p>
<p class="title">Doctors could soon put down scalpels and peek under patients' skin, thanks to a new augmented reality system that displays internal anatomy right on the body, scientists say.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The system, called ProjectDR, allows medical images such as CT scans and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data to be displayed directly on a patient's body in a way that moves as the patient does.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We wanted to create a system that would show clinicians a patient's internal anatomy within the context of the body," said Ian Watts from University of Alberta in Canada.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Augmented reality (AR) is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are "augmented" by computer-generated perceptual information.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The technology in the new system includes a motion- tracking system using infrared cameras and markers on the patient's body, as well as a projector to display the images.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, the really difficult part, Watts said, is having the image track properly on the patient's body even as they shift and move.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The solution: custom software written by Watts that gets all of the components working together.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"There are lots of applications for this technology, including in teaching, physiotherapy, laparoscopic surgery and even surgical planning," said Watts, who developed the technology with fellow graduate student Michael Fiest.</p>.<p class="bodytext">ProjectDR also has the capacity to present segmented images - for example, only the lungs or only the blood vessels - depending on what a clinician is interested in seeing.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Watts is working on refining ProjectDR to improve the system's automatic calibration and to add components such as depth sensors.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The next steps are testing the programme's viability in a clinical setting, said Pierre Boulanger, a professor at the University of Alberta.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Soon, we will deploy ProjectDR in an operating room in a surgical simulation laboratory to test the pros and cons in real-life surgical applications," said Boulanger.</p>