Medical Animation News

As part of an interactive, educational series sponsored by the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers recently created a medical animation depicting the mechanics of sleep apnea and a common treatment called "CPAP."

A report from the University of Texas Medicine Health Science Center San Antonio (UTMHSCSA) has announced that a newly created medical visualization may help healthcare professionals spot child abuse.

A quick internet search will tell you that the term "medical animation" refers to a clip that uses computer-generated imagery to recreate in virtual space a surgery, medical procedure, physiological function or pharmaceutical mechanism of action.

It seems like a medical animation has been created for virtually every bodily system.

What is the best way to instruct the lay public on how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)? An increasing number of doctors recommend using a 3D medical animation, and, according to recent headlines, fewer physicians are suggesting using the song "Achy Breaky Heart" as an accompaniment.

Students of biology and cellular anatomy can learn quite a bit from medical animation clips about the structure of the brain's neurons - and, as it happens, so can scientists doing cutting-edge research.

As surgical techniques become ever more complex and delicate, it can take the accuracy and intelligibility of a 3D medical visualization for doctors to be able to thoroughly plan certain procedures.

In a 3D medical animation-based surgical simulation, how does the user hold a virtual instrument or manipulate organs within an avatar? Besides typical point-and-click, mouse-based control systems, many medical visualization programs are beginning to integrate haptic technology.

How best to teach the subtleties of surgery? While practicing on live patients or cadavers used to be almost the only option, today many specialists are increasingly relying on 3D medical animation programs to learn complex procedures.

If you've seen a medical animation in action, you know that instructional computer-generated clips are designed to be as immersive and visually pleasing as possible.