Tuesday, June 10, 2008

I was part of a cause...

Alright everybody, together now, "Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start." I grew up with a Famicom (the original version of the NES) and will forever have that code burned into my memory.

I shudder to think of how many hours I spent hunting ducks, eating mushrooms to grow, or protecting some eagle symbol with my tank.

However, to help me cope, I think about how gaming technologies are going to revolutionize the world. Turns out Hospitals are looking to the gaming industry to increase the precision of surgeries.

Cardiac surgeons have borrowed a 3-D stereoscopic imaging technology from the video-game industry to help them guide their tools during intricate beating-heart surgeries. In tests of the new imaging device, a surgeon was able to more accurately navigate into pigs' hearts and then to more quickly repair the hearts' torn walls....

Recent advances in image-processing technology have allowed game designers to simulate 3-D environments--complete with depth perception--using stereoscopic vision displays. "To address structural heart disease, you need a three-dimensional map with depth perception," says Marc Gillinov, chief experience officer at Cleveland Clinic's Heart and Vascular Institute. "And that's what the stereoscopic glasses give you."

You can read the entire article here.

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