It's everywhere you look: in movie theaters, with films such as Avatar and Toy Story 3; and even, slowly but surely, on TV, with broadcast stations like ESPN 3D and state of the art televisions such as Sony's Bravia LCD 3D. Suddenly, what was once a novelty is becoming the norm.
And not just when it comes to entertainment. In medicine – especially in the operating room – 3D is entering a new era of ubiquity and affordability. And, in some cases, the line between 3D technology designed for consumer entertainment and that used for diagnostic and surgical applications is a bit more blurred than you might expect.
3D surgery has been around for as far back as a decade or so, from companies such as Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Intuitive Surgical, which helps improve minimally-invasive procedures via robotic 3D visualization technology like its da Vinci Surgical System.
With that setup, the surgeon sits at a console – across the room from the patient, who is under the robot – looking into an eyepiece that gives him a three-dimensional view. The surgeon then manipulates the robot according to that 3D visualization.
Lately, though, there are a number of companies planning on commercializing endoscopic and laparoscopic 3D systems later this year. Rather than relying on a separate robotic console, these will use a 3D screen with 3D glasses – just like at the movies.
"That's the product we're developing," says Brian Zimmer, senior marketing manager at Sony's medical division, of the monitor (still a work in progress) that will be put to use with those systems. "Sony is a leader in 3D in the consumer world, both in terms of content creation and with our electronics group. We've taken all of that technology expertise and will be applying it to our medical lineup of video products."
The 3D effect is achieved through passive polarization technology – the same technology used in the cheap glasses you wore to watch Avatar in the theater.
"The surgeon does not need to remove the 3D glasses at all during the procedure," says Zimmer. "He can just keep his glasses on throughout the procedure," even when he's not looking at the 3D screen.
Other companies are working with similar technology. In June, for instance, Siemens Healthcare launched its "syngo.fourSight Workplace," an obstetrician-specific ultrasound workstation. While conventional 3D ultrasound technologies use two-dimensional monitors for the evaluation of 3D images, syngo.fourSight NVIDIA 3D glasses and processing software, it enables physicians and expectant mothers to see babies in three dimensions. (this confuses me)
"This takes 3D/4D [animated] ultrasound imaging to the next level," said Dr. Norbert Gaus, CEO of clinical products division at Siemens Healthcare. "It offers a truly remarkable experience that's rewarding for parents and their doctors."
Like any new technology, it'll be a while before 3D imaging is widely adopted," says Zimmer. And, of course, fiscal considerations are a prime factor. "It will take some time for hospitals to invest in upgrading their systems to 3D capability."
In the meantime, Ori Hadomi, CEO of Caesaria, Israel-based Mazor Surgical Technologies, says his company's 3D imaging tool, C-InSight, newly available for use in operating rooms across the United States, offers a cost-effective solution for hospitals to incorporate 3D imaging capabilities into their existing 2D C-Arms – the standard X-ray device used in operating rooms.
While intraoperative 3D imaging can be prohibitively expensive for most medical centers – costing as much as $800,000 – Hadomi says C-Insight, which sells for roughly one eighth that price, is "a very very simple low cost solution."
"We came up with the idea of taking a few components of our robotic technology and put it in a new product," says Hadomi. "It allows us to connect to the existing C-arm that's in the operating room, so there's no need for the hospital to buy a new system or imaging device. They purchase a new small workstation that we connect with a cable to the existing C-arm. It doesn't matter if it's GE, Siemens, Philips, or Toshiba. As long as they have a video output, we can connect our processing system to that."
The result, once the patient has been scanned, is "a complete 3D imaging of the anatomy," says Hadomi.
"Until now, only the very rich and big hospitals could afford intraoperative 3D systems," says Hadomi. "Our system is affordable for every operating room. We've designed it to meet the needs of the community centers, of the networks, of all these hospitals that cannot buy the $1 million machines."
