Technology provides most accurate view inside human body
ATLANTA, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Doctors at the annual meeting of
the American Society for Reproductive Medicine got a glimpse into the future
of women's health with the presentation of endoscopic gynecologic surgery
performed for the first time using "4K" technology.
Steven F. Palter, MD, an obstetrician, gynecologist, reproductive
endocrinologist and fertility specialist performed the world's first 4K super
high-definition (HD) laparoscopy at Syosset Hospital, part of the North
Shore-LIJ Health System, and presented images from that surgery on October 20
at the 65th annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine
(ASRM) at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.
"The images are the sharpest, most detail-rich and color-correct endoscopic
images ever created anywhere," Dr. Palter said. "There is not a more accurate
view inside the human body."
Produced in conjunction with RED Digital Cinema Camera Company; Sony
Electronics, Inc., an ultrahigh definition projector company; and the
University of Southern California Cinema Arts School, the diagnostic images
were presented in a specially built digital theater with a projector designed
to run "ultra-HD" movies in high-end movie theatres. "It's a prime example of
how Hollywood film technology can be used to transform medicine by enabling
doctors to see more accurately inside the body to study and treat disease,"
Dr. Palter said.
Ultra-high resolution digital cameras are transforming the art of cinema.
Leading Hollywood directors such as Peter Jackson and Stephen Soderbergh are
filming the next generation of cinema blockbusters using cameras with "4K"
resolution, four times the resolution of HD with 4,096 lines of resolution to
give audiences unprecedented realism.
"Through the use of this digital technology, Hollywood is moving from
observation to immersion -- you're not just watching something, you are
there," said Dr. Palter, medical and scientific director of Gold Coast IVF in
Syosset, NY, who presented the plenary presentation, Film and Medicine: The
Technological Transformation of Medicine. "In this session we showed how
tomorrow's film technology can apply to laparoscopic surgery, which is all
performed using video techniques."
Dr. Palter joined with the Red Digital Cinema Camera Company that manufactures
the 4K Red One system to create Hollywood movies of tomorrow, and Sony, the
leading ultra-HD theatrical projector company, to perform laparoscopic surgery
using the Hollywood camera system.
During the film presentation, the 3,500 reproductive medicine specialists in
attendance were able to visualize the surgery as if they were standing in the
operating room. However, by combining unprecedented resolution and
magnification, the surgical images were beyond what a surgeon would see in
traditional surgery. The progress from regular surgical film technology is
like comparing sitting in an HD home theater to watching a video on a cell
phone," said Dr. Palter.
"Dr. Palter's research and vision of surgery's technological future opened the
eyes and minds of the audience to fantastic treatments beyond what can be done
today," said R. Dale McClure, MD president of ASRM.
The session also included a projection of the largest HD three-dimensional
(3D) surgical images ever. Using the same system as 3D blockbuster Cloudy
With a Chance of Meatballs, surgeons felt as if they could "reach out and
conduct the operation." These images were enabled by converting Sony's 4K and
3D theatrical systems to show medical footage of what Dr. Palter has called
"futurevision." To obtain the images, Dr. Palter and researchers from USC
Cinema Arts created a method to attach the Red One 4K camera to a laparoscope.
Offhollywood, a leading movie production company converted these images into
a 4K digital cinema movie that was projected on $200,000, 700-pound Sony
SRX-R220 projectors back to back with 4K Hollywood images of such stars as Tom
Cruise, Julia Roberts and Will Smith. RealD 3D lenses projected HD 3D surgery
as well as Hollywood images from 3Ality of movies, sports and the rock music
band U2.
Dr. Palter has been honored for his prize-winning work on the development of
autofluorescent endoscopy. He frequently shares his vision for the impact of
future technology on medicine via his blog www.docinthemachine.com.
SOURCE North Shore-LIJ Health System
Brian Mulligan of North Shore-LIJ Health System, +1-516-465-2618/2600,
bmulliga@nshs.edu
