The Virtual Anatomy Lab: a hands-on anatomy learning environment.
This paper introduces the Virtual Anatomy Lab software platform for coordinating on-line gross anatomy learning sessions over time.
Anatomy↗
Biomedical subjects
J F Brinkley
Publications and source records attributed to J F Brinkley.
Requirements of a Web-based experiment management system.
Recent advances in tools for scientific data acquisition, visualization, and analysis have lead to growing information management problems for medical research laboratories. An exponential increase in the volume of data, combined with a proliferation of heterogeneous formats and autonomous systems, has driven the need for flexible and powerful Experiment Management Systems (EMS). This paper provides a detailed analysis of the informatics requirements of an EMS, and proposes a new type of middleware called an EMS-Building Environment (EMSBE), which enables the rapid development of web-based systems for managing laboratory data and workflow. We describe the Web-Interfacing Respository Manager (WIRM), an open-source application server for building customizable experiment management systems. WIRM is being used to manage several ongoing experiments, including a natural language processor of radiological findings, and an interdisciplinary project for studying brain function.
Clinical Laboratory Information Systems↗
Anatomical information in radiation treatment planning.
We report on experience and insights gained from prototyping, for clinical radiation oncologists, a new access tool for the University of Washington Digital Anatomist information resources. This access tool is designed to integrate with a radiation therapy planning (RTP) system in use in a clinical setting. We hypothesize that the needs of practitioners in a clinical setting are different from the needs of students, the original targeted users of the Digital Anatomist system, but that a common knowledge resource can serve both. Our prototype was designed to help define those differences and study the feasibility of a full anatomic reference system that will support both clinical radiation therapy and all the existing educational applications.
Anatomy, Artistic↗
Integration and visualization of multimodality brain data for language mapping.
A goal of the University of Washington Brain Project is to develop software tools for processing, integrating and visualizing multimodality language data obtained at the time of neurosurgery, both for surgical planning and for the study of language organization in the brain. Data from a single patient consist of four magnetic resonance-based image volumes, showing anatomy, veins, arteries and functional activation (fMRI). The data also include the location, on the exposed cortical surface, of sites that were electrically stimulated for the presence of language. These five sources are mapped to a common MR-based neuroanatomical model, then visualized to gain a qualitative appreciation of their relationships, prior to quantitative analysis. These procedures are described and illustrated, with emphasis on the visualization of fMRI activation, which may be deep in the brain, with respect to surface-based stimulation sites.
Anatomy, Cross-Sectional↗
Design features of on-line anatomy information resources: a comparison with the Digital Anatomist.
In order to update the design of the next generation of the Digital Anatomist, we have surveyed teaching assistants who have used the Digital Anatomist for learning and teaching anatomy as medical students, and have also examined available anatomy web sites with sufficient content to support learning. The majority of web sites function in an atlas mode and provide for the identification of structures. These atlases incorporate a variety of features for interactivity with 2D images, some of which are not available in the Digital Anatomist. The surveys suggest that the greatest need is for on-line access to comprehensive and detailed anatomical information and for the development of knowledge-based methods that allow the direct manipulation of segmented 3D graphical models by the user. The requirement for such interactivity is a comprehensive symbolic model of the physical organization of the body that can support inference.
Anatomy↗
Semi-automatic scene generation using the Digital Anatomist Foundational Model.
A recent survey shows that a major impediment to more widespread use of computers in anatomy education is the inability to directly manipulate 3-D models, and to relate these to corresponding textual information. In the University of Washington Digital Anatomist Project we have developed a prototype Web-based scene generation program that combines the symbolic Foundational Model of Anatomy with 3-D models. A Web user can browse the Foundational Model (FM), then click to request that a 3-D scene be created of an object and its parts or branches. The scene is rendered by a graphics server, and a snapshot is sent to the Web client. The user can then manipulate the scene, adding new structures, deleting structures, rotating the scene, zooming, and saving the scene as a VRML file. Applications such as this, when fully realized with fast rendering and more anatomical content, have the potential to significantly change the way computers are used in anatomy education.
Anatomy↗
The digital anatomist foundational model: principles for defining and structuring its concept domain.
We define a foundational model as an abstraction of a body of knowledge that explicitly declares the principles and concepts necessary for coherently and consistently modelling a knowledge domain. Principles for a foundational model of anatomy are defined and used to specify the components of such a model. These components include an anatomy ontology (Ao), an anatomical structural abstraction (ASA), an anatomical transformation abstraction (ATA) and metaknowledge (Mk), which comprises the rules for representing relationships in the other three components of the model. The foundational model Fm is therefore specified as the four-tuple Fm = (Ao,ASA,ATA,Mk). We hypothesize that this abstraction captures the information that is sufficient and necessary for describing the anatomy of any physical entity that constitutes the body, as well as that of the body itself.
Anatomy↗
Requirements for an on-line knowledge-based anatomy information system.
User feedback from the Digital Anatomist Web-based anatomy atlases, together with over 20 years of anatomy teaching experience, were used to formulate the requirements and system design for a next-generation anatomy information system. The main characteristic of this system over current image-based approaches is that it is knowledge-based. A foundational model of anatomy is accessed by an intelligent agent that uses its knowledge about the available anatomy resources and the user types to generate customized interfaces. Current usage statistics suggest that even partial implementation of this design will be of great practical value for both clinical and educational needs.
Anatomy, Artistic↗
Incorporating constraint-based shape models into an interactive system for functional brain mapping.
Through intraoperative electrical stimulation mapping, it is possible to identify sites on the surface of the brain that are essential for language function. Interesting correlations have been found between the distribution of these sites and behavioral traits such as verbal IQ. In previous work, tools were developed for building a reconstruction of a patient's cortical surface and using it to recover coordinates of essential language sites. However, considerable expertise was required to produce good reconstructions. This paper describes an improved version of the mapping procedure, in which segmentation is driven by a 3-D shape model. The model-based approach provides more intuitive control over the system, allowing a trained user to complete a surface reconstruction and mapping in about two hours. This level of performance makes it feasible to gather language maps for a large number of patients, which hopefully will lead to significant new findings about language organization in the brain.
Anatomy, Cross-Sectional↗
The digital anatomist information system and its use in the generation and delivery of Web-based anatomy atlases.
Advances in network and imaging technology, coupled with the availability of 3-D datasets such as the Visible Human, provide a unique opportunity for developing information systems in anatomy that can deliver relevant knowledge directly to the clinician, researcher or educator. A software framework is described for developing such a system within a distributed architecture that includes spatial and symbolic anatomy information resources, Web and custom servers, and authoring and end-user client programs. The authoring tools have been used to create 3-D atlases of the brain, knee and thorax that are used both locally and throughout the world. For the one and a half year period from June 1995-January 1997, the on-line atlases were accessed by over 33,000 sites from 94 countries, with an average of over 4000 "hits" per day, and 25,000 hits per day during peak exam periods. The atlases have been linked to by over 500 sites, and have received at least six unsolicited awards by outside rating institutions. The flexibility of the software framework has allowed the information system to evolve with advances in technology and representation methods. Possible new features include knowledge-based image retrieval and tutoring, dynamic generation of 3-D scenes, and eventually, real-time virtual reality navigation through the body. Such features, when coupled with other on-line biomedical information resources, should lead to interesting new ways for managing and accessing structural information in medicine.
Anatomy↗
Managing medical research data with a Web-Interfacing Repository Manager.
This paper describes the Web-Interfacing Repository Manager (WIRM), a perl toolkit for managing and deploying multimedia data, which is built entirely from free, platform-independent components. The WIRM consists of an object-relational API layered over a relational database, with built-in support for file management and CGI programming. The basic underlying data structure for all WIRM data is the repository object, a perl associative array whose values are bound to a row of a table in the relational database. Based on our experience implementing a target application (the Brain Mapper Console), we describe five stages through which a system passes as it evolves from a primitive file hierarchy to a full-fledged repository console.
Brain Mapping↗
Using 3-D shape models to guide segmentation of MR brain images.
Accurate segmentation of medical images poses one of the major challenges in computer vision. Approaches that rely solely on intensity information frequently fail because similar intensity values appear in multiple structures. This paper presents a method for using shape knowledge to guide the segmentation process, applying it to the task of finding the surface of the brain. A 3-D model that includes local shape constraints is fitted to an MR volume dataset. The resulting low-resolution surface is used to mask out regions far from the cortical surface, enabling an isosurface extraction algorithm to isolate a more detailed surface boundary. The surfaces generated by this technique are comparable to those achieved by other methods, without requiring user adjustment of a large number of ad hoc parameters.
Anatomy, Cross-Sectional↗
Visualization and mapping of neurosurgical functional brain data onto a 3-D MR-based model of the brain surface.
The Human Brain Project was initiated with the goal of developing methods for managing and sharing information about the brain. As a prototype Human Brain Project application we are developing a system for organizing, visualizing, integrating and sharing information about human language function. The goal of the brain mapping component of our work, described in this article, is to generate the 3D location and extent of cortical language sites with respect to a uniform, 3D patient coordinate system. The language sites of individual patients can then be combined with or related to other patient data in terms of a Talairach, surface-based, or other deformable coordinate systems. Language site mapping is done by visually comparing an intraoperative photograph with the rendered image (from MRI data). The techniques outlined in this article have been utilized to map cortical language sites of six patients. Preliminary results point to the adequacy of our volume visualizations for language mapping. The strength of the visualization scheme lies in the combination of interactive segmentation with volume and surface visualization. We are now in the process of acquiring more patient data to further validate the usefulness of our method.
Brain Mapping↗
A Web-based repository manager for brain mapping data.
The Web provides a rapid prototyping environment for building platform-independent graphical user interfaces. A Web-based console can be implemented as a suite of CGI scripts that generate HTML code, manipulate files, execute system commands, and invoke external tools. Often these tools share data by reading and writing flat files, which must be explicitly maintained by the CGI programmer. In a repository system, meta-data about each file object are maintained in a database, and access to all data is regulated by a layer of control services. This paper describes the design and implementation of a Web-based Repository Manager (WRM), which provides an application programmer's interface for controlling applications, generating HTML documents, handling Web forms, and managing multi-media data. The WRM is being used to develop a console for the Brain Mapping Framework, a system for visualizing cortical stimulation data obtained during neurosurgery.
Brain Mapping↗
Web-based access to an online atlas of anatomy: the Digital Anatomist Common Gateway Interface.
A World Wide Web Common Gateway Interface package is described for accessing existing online interactive atlases of anatomy. The Web interface accesses the same 2-D and 3-D images of human neuroanatomy, knee anatomy and thoracic viscera that are currently accessed by a custom interactive atlas in distance learning courses. Although the Web interface is too slow to replace the existing atlas, it provides a parallel access path that has much broader potential for development of a distributed distance learning network in anatomy. By maintaining both access methods to the same information sources we continue to satisfy the fast interactivity needs for our local courses, while at the same time providing a migration path to the Web as the capabilities of Web browsers evolve.
Anatomy, Artistic↗
Enhancements of anatomical information in UMLS knowledge sources.
Although anatomical terminology forms a part of biomedical structured vocabularies, available sources lack the requisite granularity, semantic types and relationships for comprehensively and consistently representing anatomical concepts in machine readable form. Thoracic angiology was selected as a proof of concept experiment for in depth representation of symbolic information in gross anatomy through the enhancement of semantic types, concepts and relationships in UMLS. Provided the representation of concepts is comprehensive, hierarchies generated with four types of simple relationships are capable of displaying anatomical information from the systemic view point with sufficient detail to meet the needs of applications in basic science education and in the practice of surgical subspecialties.
Anatomy↗
Performance evaluation of a distance learning program.
This paper presents a performance metric which uses a single number to characterize the response time for a non-deterministic client-server application operating over the Internet. When applied to a Macintosh-based distance learning application called the Digital Anatomist Browser, the metric allowed us to observe that "A typical student doing a typical mix of Browser commands on a typical data set will experience the same delay if they use a slow Macintosh on a local network or a fast Macintosh on the other side of the country accessing the data over the Internet." The methodology presented is applicable to other client-server applications that are rapidly appearing on the Internet.
Computer Communication Networks↗
A flexible, generic model for anatomic shape: application to interactive two-dimensional medical image segmentation and matching.
A representation called a radial contour model (RCM) is described for two-dimensional anatomic shapes. The model, which is a type of a geometric constraint network (GCN), is both flexible, in that it can deform to fit a particular instance of an anatomic shape, and generic, in that it captures all examples of a particular anatomic shape class. The model is implemented in a program, called SCANNER (version 0.7), for interactive model-based two-dimensional image segmentation and matching. Use of the model allows the segmenter to direct the search for edges in the image, and to fill in edges where none are present. Evaluations were done using models of 15 cross-sectional shapes appearing on CT images from 16 patients. Results from 480 trials show that the model-based approach reduces segmentation time by nearly a factor of 3 over manual methods, and correctly classifies 72.9% of the contours. The results not only suggest that the RCM will be useful for several current medical image segmentation tasks, but also support the hypothesis that geometric constraint networks are a viable approach to anatomic shape representation.
Artificial Intelligence↗