Jack Choi: On the virtual dissection table

http://www.ted.com Onstage at TED2012, Jack Choi demonstrates a powerful tool for training medical students: a stretcher-sized multi-touch screen of the human body that lets you explore, dissect and understand the body's parts and systems.

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[moon4647]

the idea is great but its not a good replacement to the real body, it would be great for intro levels, or high school students.

[kadyankeegirl]

it would be awesome if they made similar tables for veterinary medicine. Even though it can not replace real dissection, it would make it much easier to conceptualize anatomy for large animals, especially since it is very difficult to logistically provide an entire horse or cow cadaver.

[SinatraFan1989]

Nice piece of tech, but it doesn't offer what dissection can.

The real benefit of tissue dissection is seeing and feeling the mechanics of what happens when you pull a tendon, feeling how frictionless a synovial membrane is etc. The act of feeling what tissue is like with your hands and how a scalpel feels going through different structures is the real learning experience.

[Railingo Whirl]

I could see how you could use this. First scan the person with cancer or something. Then find right where it is. Then delete the image...

[Spaceisprettybig]

Isn't this the same tech they used in the upcoming Metal Gear Solid game?

[VanXIInX]

When you posted i wondered if they already had one. It turns out that they already have a product about human anatomy, it's called "Zygote Body", it works like google maps and is powered by google. Most of the browsers doesn't support it, but Google Chrome really does. Bye.

[zoiks81]

Now, let see if he can remove the funny bone without setting off the alarm...!

[LandDestroyerReport]

Google Maps, Google Earth, Google Moon, Mars ... Google Anatomy? Might be worth a try.

[rmcdaniel423]

Where I live, it IS easier and cheaper to acquire cadavers than to process and plastinate models that cannot be manipulated adequately by students. Also, I'm not opposed to computerized aids. Don't get me wrong. I was merely asserting that the real thing is best. If your only problem is a lack of people gifting themselves to science, then maybe instead of settling for 2nd best education, you should be advocating for more generosity among your local population.

[moon4647]

anybody else thinking it could be an app ? most of us got smart phones !! plz pay me for this idea !!

[Robot Butler]

Those of you saying "this doesn't compare to dissecting the real thing," are completely missing the point here. NO WHERE does this man say that this an effective replacement for actual cadavers. He clearly says this machine is to merely ADDRESS the schools where there is a lack of one. Which would you rather have? Medical students who got NO kind of dissecting experience at all, or ones who at least had access to a highly detailed and accurate facsimile?

[Robot Butler]

The problem is you say that like it's easy commodity to find. Cadavers are not easy or inexpensive to acquire. They require consent from family members or from the person themselves before they died and most people are not willing to give up their bodies like this for science. Most would rather be buried or cremated. It's not like schools are refusing to get cadavers. In the desperate absence of the real thing, a virtual one is better than nothing.