Contact:
Gladys Amador
305.899.4919
Miami, Fla. - Barry University has recently acquired new technology that allows current and future physicians to examine the human body like never before through the use of life-sized, virtual anatomy imagery. Like a gigantic tablet, the Anatomage table allows students and faculty to virtually dissect the human anatomy layer by layer. They can customize various pathologies and visualize skeletal tissues, muscles, organs, and soft tissue. Barry is one of only four schools in Florida, and the only school in Miami-Dade County, to own the new equipment.
This new technology allows for medical schools to have an alternative to traditional cadavers. Supporters of the 3-D virtual technology say inexperienced students can practice their skills and redo their incisions in a way that real cadavers do not allow. This allows medical students to further sharpen their skills by the time they are ready to work on a real person.
The same holds true for experienced physicians, who can use scans of actual patients and inspect body images before surgery to minimize any surprises during an operation. They can see what is there before making the first incision. Surgeons can also use the Anatomage table to locate specific pathology in several views and decide treatment plans and post-surgical reviews.
Unlike plastic models, the table allows students to view structures at infinite angles and better understand how different structures relate within the body. The table offers realistic visualization of 3-D anatomy by combining imaging from X-rays, ultrasounds, and MRIs.
The Anatomage table costs approximately $80,000 and can hold up to a terabyte of data, which equals information for about 1,000 patients.