Bradley Hittle

Virtual temporal bone dissection system: OSU virtual temporal bone system: development and testing.

The objective of this project was to develop a virtual temporal bone dissection system that would provide an enhanced educational experience for the training of otologic surgeons.

Translating the Simulation of Procedural Drilling Techniques for Interactive Neurosurgical Training

BACKGROUND: Through previous efforts we have developed a fully virtual environment to provide procedural training of otologic surgical technique. The virtual environment is based on high-resolution volumetric data of the regional anatomy. These volumetric data help drive an interactive multisensory, ie, visual (stereo), aural (stereo), and tactile, simulation environment. Subsequently, we have extended our efforts to support the training of neurosurgical procedural technique as part of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons simulation initiative. OBJECTIVE: To deliberately study the integration of simulation technologies into the neurosurgical curriculum and to determine their efficacy in teaching minimally invasive cranial and skull base approaches. METHODS: We discuss issues of biofidelity and our methods to provide objective, quantitative and automated assessment for the residents. RESULTS: We conclude with a discussion of our experiences by reporting preliminary formative pilot studies and proposed approaches to take the simulation to the next level through additional validation studies. CONCLUSION: We have presented our efforts to translate an otologic simulation environment for use in the neurosurgical curriculum. We have demonstrated the initial proof of principles and define the steps to integrate and validate the system as an adjuvant to the neurosurgical curriculum.

Anatomical volume visualization with weighted distance fields

We describe the use of the weighted distance transform (WDT) to enhance applications designed for volume visualization of segmented anatomical datasets. The WDT is presented as a general technique to generate a derived characteristic of a scalar field that can be used in multiple ways during rendering. We obtain real-time interaction with the volume by calculating the WDT on the graphics card. Several examples of this technique as it applies to an application for teaching anatomical structures are detailed, including rendering embedded structures, fuzzy boundaries, outlining, and indirect lighting estimation.

Virtual Temporal Bone Dissection System: Development and Testing

The objective of this project was to develop a virtual temporal bone dissection system that would provide an enhanced educational experience for the training of otologic surgeons.

Virtual temporal bone dissection system: OSU virtual temporal bone system†‡§

The objective of this project was to develop a virtual temporal bone dissection system that would provide an enhanced educational experience for the training of otologic surgeons.

Enabling Data-Intensive Biomedical Science: Gaps, Opportunities, and Challenges

The challenges of data-intensive computing have been summarized (Gorton et al., 2008) as ‘‘managing and processing exponentially growing data volumes, often arriving in time-sensitive streams from arrays of sensors and instruments’’ and ‘‘significantly reducing data analysis cycles so that researchers can make timely decisions.’’ The management of such data requires integrated services for the (high-speed) transfer, storage, indexing, and retrieval of data. Enabling technologies for data management are under active development and investigation (including high-speed networks such as those studied by GENI (http://www.geni.net/), high-performance file systems and semantic ontologies for data access). In addition to existing cluster-based highperformance computing solutions, data-intensive cloud programming environments (e.g., MapReduce and Dryad) are emerging technologies that show promise. The Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) has supported data-intensive science projects in the physical sciences [e.g., ALICE—A Large Ion Collider Experiment (http://www .osc.edu/press/releases/2010/supercollider.shtml)] and the environmental sciences [e.g., ASR—Arctic System Reanalysis (http://www.osc.edu/press/releases/2007/bromwich.shtml)]. In biomedical sciences, OSC is actively supporting dataintensive biomedical research groups located at the Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) at The Ohio State University’s Medical Center as well as those at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (RINCH). These organizations contain a number of core facilities, common laboratories providing analysis to a collection of research and clinical groups. Currently, OSC is engaged with the following core facilities at the CCC:

Integration of high-resolution data for temporal bone surgical simulations.

PurposeTo report on the state of the art in obtaining high-resolution 3D data of the microanatomy of the temporal bone and to process that data for integration into a surgical simulator. Specifically, we report on our experience in this area and discuss the issues involved to further the field.Data sourcesCurrent temporal bone image acquisition and image processing established in the literature as well as in house methodological development.Review methodsWe reviewed the current English literature for the techniques used in computer-based temporal bone simulation systems to obtain and process anatomical data for use within the simulation. Search terms included “temporal bone simulation, surgical simulation, temporal bone.” Articles were chosen and reviewed that directly addressed data acquisition and processing/segmentation and enhancement with emphasis given to computer-based systems. We present the results from this review in relationship to our approach.ConclusionsHigh-resolution CT imaging (

Expert subjective comparison of haptic models for bone–drill interaction

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