In recent years, there’s been a huge push toward three-dimensional (3D) products: glasses, theaters, movies, high-resolution screens for home entertainment systems, and others. While 3D has been a boon to the movie industry – who doesn’t want to watch the latest blockbuster and feel like you’re right in the middle of the action? – other industries haven’t quite embraced the technology in the same way. However, the medical field is beginning to utilize 3D technology more and more. As the technology grows, it’s becoming increasingly accessible to a variety of medical occupations and in a variety of forms, including medical animations, ultrasounds and sonograms, and systems with high-resolution displays that have been developed specifically for surgical procedures.

Medical Animation

It used to be that voluminous, heavy textbooks, printed hand outs, research studies, and other texts were the only source of medical information for students and professionals. Thanks to 3D technology, medical animation software and programs are offering students, nurses, and doctors another, far more visual way to learn about the human body.

One company at the forefront of this technology is Tres 3D, a medical scientific animation studio that offers a variety of innovative, 3D services, including 3D modeling, animating, product renderings, and interactive touch screens. These can be incredibly helpful when it comes to taking a more in-depth approach to learning and studying the parts of the human anatomy.

Additionally, the company creates rich, Method of Action (MOA) videos of surgical techniques, molecular processes, and pharmaceutical processes that have helped a number of major corporations – such as Glaxo Smith Kline, Johnson & Johnson, and others – showcase their products or services and better explain to viewers how those products or services interact with the human body.

Ultrasounds & Sonograms

Innovative 3D technology has also influenced how obstetricians are able to check on the development of a pregnant woman’s fetus. In use for many years, ultrasound technology uses high-frequency sound waves beamed into a woman’s uterus from an exterior handheld device. The sound waves echo or bounce back into the device to create images on a screen. Traditionally, the fetal ultrasound mode of imaging involved 2D scanning, with a black and white, fuzzy image as the typical result. In 3D scanning, instead of sound waves beaming down at one angle before reflecting back, they are sent in multiple angles. A highly sophisticated computer program then translates the returning echoes into a 3D volume sonogram of a fetus or its internal organs.

While there is no major benefit to viewing a fetus with 3D imaging apart from a mother being able to better visualize her child, the technology may someday be used to detect heart anomalies and for testing neurological and behavioral developments of fetuses while still in the womb.

3D Glasses & Display Screens in the Operating Room

Much of the surgical community worldwide remains skeptical of using 3D technology in the operating room, largely because of concerns with the bulkiness and accuracy of images through glasses. In recent practical tests administered by the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), and Klinikum rechts der Isar university hospital in Munich, Germany, a group of surgeons tested several different 3D systems featuring extremely high-resolution screens; some systems required glasses, others did not.

The 3D system that didn’t require glasses got positive reviews from surgeons who participated in the study, even though it was not the most popular model tested. Surprisingly, the glasses-based 3D system was the favorite of all the surgeons. While using the system in a mock procedure, the surgeons reduced their performance time by 15 percent and precision increased dramatically, as hand movements were more targeted compared to the movements when using a 2D model.

There are many more advancements required to perfect the use of 3D in medical settings, but it’s good to know that the technology exists and could prove to be incredibly helpful in diagnosing and treating a variety of conditions.