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Virtual Reality Educational Tool for Human Anatomy

  • Education & Training
  • Published:
Journal of Medical Systems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Virtual Reality is becoming widespread in our society within very different areas, from industry to entertainment. It has many advantages in education as well, since it allows visualizing almost any object or going anywhere in a unique way. We will be focusing on medical education, and more specifically anatomy, where its use is especially interesting because it allows studying any structure of the human body by placing the user inside each one. By allowing virtual immersion in a body structure such as the interior of the cranium, stereoscopic vision goggles make these innovative teaching technologies a powerful tool for training in all areas of health sciences. The aim of this study is to illustrate the teaching potential of applying Virtual Reality in the field of human anatomy, where it can be used as a tool for education in medicine. A Virtual Reality Software was developed as an educational tool. This technological procedure is based entirely on software which will run in stereoscopic goggles to give users the sensation of being in a virtual environment, clearly showing the different bones and foramina which make up the cranium, and accompanied by audio explanations. Throughout the results the structure of the cranium is described in detailed from both inside and out. Importance of an exhaustive morphological knowledge of cranial fossae is further discussed. Application for the design of microsurgery is also commented.

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Acknowledgements

This project was possible thanks to the help of the ARSOFT company members, specialized in the implementation of advanced Virtual Reality systems. We also want to highlight the contribution of the research group VisualMed System, from the University of Salamanca for its active participation in the creation of the contents of the project as well as in the generation of the 3D skull model from the radiological images.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ARSOFT, Salamanca, Spain

    Santiago González Izard

  2. VisualMed System Group, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    Juan A. Juanes Méndez

  3. VisualMed System Group, Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    Pablo Ruisoto Palomera

  4. European University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Pablo Ruisoto Palomera

Authors
  1. Santiago González Izard
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  2. Juan A. Juanes Méndez
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  3. Pablo Ruisoto Palomera
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pablo Ruisoto Palomera.

Ethics declarations

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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The author declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Education & Training.

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Izard, S.G., Juanes Méndez, J.A. & Palomera, P.R. Virtual Reality Educational Tool for Human Anatomy. J Med Syst 41, 76 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-017-0723-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-017-0723-6

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