Virtual reality autopsy on the Internet By Patricia Reaney
LONDON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Aspiring pathlogists can now hone
their medical skills by performing a virtual reality autopsy onthe Internet.
Instead of a pathologist's knife, medical students can use a
computer mouse to perform the virtual post mortem on the autopsy
website created by staff and students at Leicester University incentral England.
''As far as we know this is the first virtual autopsy
website,'' Dr Kevin West, a pathologist at the university, said
in a telephone interview on Thursday.
The website includes seven cases with information that would
be available to a pathologist carrying out a real examination to
establish the cause of death.
Students can click and get the patient's history, such as
his age, symptoms, what drugs he had been taking and any other
relevant information. A dictonary also explains any unfamiliar
medical terms and drugs.
There are also investigations and findings of examinations.
''The student, at any time, can guess the cause of death but
we presume they will go as far as the autopsy,'' said West.
To discourage voyeurs whole body images and faces are not
used. Each case includes a body outline which students can use
to choose which part of the anatomy they want to examine.
West said some people might find the experience unpleasant
but it is tame compared with some Internet images. ''The images
are not too bad. I don't think anyone will be grosslyoffended,'' he added.
By clicking on the specific body part -- lung, body, heart,
head -- students can examine tissue from that area. Then they
can go to the causes of death list.
''When they click to select the cause of death there will be
a list which includes the right one, some near misses and some
red herrings,'' West said.
''If they choose something completely wrong they will get a
slight rebuke for being so far away....Students are told if they
get the right answer.''
The idea for the Internet site came from a student who
approached members of the pathology department about a way to
use his computing skills to improve his knowledge of pathology.
The virtual autopsy is designed for medical undergraduates
in early training but anyone can try it on
le.ac.uk. ^REUTERS@ |
