Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Ed Yeates ReportingIt was another long and historic day in New York as surgeons continue trying to separate conjoined twin boys from the Philippines. Today, as in the first two operations, the surgical team used Utah-made holograms for an unprecedented view inside the twins.
What's amazing about the operations on these conjoined twin boys is that surgeons for the first time have a true three-dimensional view in true three-dimensional space.
Daniel Burman, CEO, Voxel, Inc: "So that you get the true third dimension, I am able to reach right around that vessel."
Surgeons have never before been able to do that, to see exactly how to divide the major vessels shared by the twins.
Before each operation, the surgical team sends conventional scans of the twins to the Utah company, which then converts the images into holograms using specially designed high tech lasers. You can even flip the hologram over - to see the other side. And how about holographic overlays?
Daniel Burman: "We're able to take both of that imagery and overlay it one over the other so they can see right through the bone to the vessels on the other side."
The holograms allow surgeons to pass their hands into the skull of the twins, checking each procedure and incision with incredible precision.
Daniel Burman: "It's fantastic. Dr. Goodrich who is the lead neurosurgeon on the case has told us that we have hit it right on the head. He is able to see vessels in the holograms that he is not able to see in the two dimensional data."
What's happening in New York is just the beginning. Daniel Burman predicts projection systems that soon might project holograms directly onto sheets covering a patient. Since it would be directly over the site of the surgery, doctors would precisely reach through the hologram into the patient, in real time.
During a news conference tomorrow in New York, surgeons will talk about the success of today's third in a series of five operations to separate the twins.
