3D VIRTUAL TECHNOLOGY IN MEDICAL EDUCATION

3D Virtual Technology in Medical Education

3D Virtual Technology in Medical Education

Introduction

Boundaries are permeable by more than just military application. We must remember that advancements in technology have effects on both the military and civilian aspects of society. Trains, planes and automobiles are responsible for the transportation of goods not only nationally, but also internationally. Our world has become increasingly smaller as technology has led to globalization. Borders are much more than mearly permeable when it comes to trade. Over the past few decades we have seen big firms setting up production in foreign countries (foreign direct investment). Even in Britain, Japanese car and electronic firms are attracted here by our government. Technology has brought about the power of the Internet, available to all who posses a computer and modem.(Covey,2004)

A virtual world that has no boundaries between countries, where even language barriers are diffused and where governments may strive for censorship but find it impossible to achieve. Increasingly states have began to concern themselves with international organizations that may not have direct power over countries but succeed nonetheless to keep order on things through mutual cooperation.(Schermerhorn, 2004)

Discussion

In the past the exchange of medical information between hospitals was time consuming, with a reliance on traditional mail (surface or air mail). High speed computer networks not only, provide the means of high-speed electronic transfer of information but offer the possibility of user interactivity with information displayed in a three-dimensional (3D) graphical format . VRML is a world-wide de facto standard for 3D software developers in the Internet. The language supports animation for moving objects and describes complex movements. The latter makes the language a powerful tool for virtual reality applications in medicine. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data is an example of data which can be represented in a VRML format. MRI is one of the most advanced methods for non-invasively diagnostic imaging. Volume data set from MRI scans are scalar data of the form f(x, y, z).(Jones,2004)

A 3D graphical representation can make the information contained in such large data sets more understandable and easier to interpret. Fast networks and satellites can reliably transfer large data sets from computer to computer. This has led to the adoption of remote tale-working in many applications including medical applications. Radiology experts, for example, can view and inspect in near real-time a 3D data set acquired from a patient who is in another part of the world.(Covey,2004) Such technology is destined to improve the quality of life for many people. This paper introduces VRML (including some technical details) and discusses the advantages of VRML in application developing.(Katz,2004)

3D computer graphics and VRML

VRML is a language which allows to build 3D worlds. An object is typically defined using 3D geometry. Basic primitives of objects are polygons. Each polygon is defined (in Cartesian space) by a set a set of (x, y, z)-triplets representing the vertices of the polygon [1]. A polygon can have characteristics such as colour, material and ...