VOXEL-MAN Sonography is a new virtual training simulator for external and endoscopic ultrasound examinations in internal medicine. It comes as a compact, portable system, based on a laptop computer with a 2D touch screen and a haptic device.
A major application of VOXEL-MAN Sonography is endoscopic ultrasound (EUS), where other training options are limited. The virtual endoscope is guided with a haptic device along the esophagus, stomach, and duodenum. It provides a longitudinal and a radial ultrasound probe. As in reality, the trainee sees both the endoscopic image and the ultrasound image.
Interpretation of the obliquely positioned ultrasound images provides a major challange. It is facilitated with an anatomical cross-section of the same otientation, which is shown side by side. By mouse click, all images can be queried regarding to the displayed anatomical structures. Furthermore, three navigation images indicate the position and orientation of the ultrasound probe on transverse, sagittal and coronal planes.
VOXEL-MAN Sonography contains numerous training tasks in the mediastinum, adomen and duodenum. The underlying high resolution anatomical model is based on the Visible Human.
