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| |  AAOS MEETING: Holograms Aid Diagnosis And Treatment In Cervical Spine NEW ORLEANS, LA -- March 20, 1998 -- Physicians reporting at the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) annual meeting this week describe how the Voxel’s Digital Holography(TM) System improves the display of trauma and anomalies of the cervical spine. The Digital Holography System uses data routinely collected by computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) scanners to produce true three-dimensional images. A proprietary multiple-exposure process holographically superimposes all the cross-sectional data from the tomographic studies onto a single piece of 14"x17" holographic film. When the film is viewed on a special lightbox, the transparent images literally extend out in space, enabling physicians to interact in, around and through the life-size holograms as if they were real specimens of anatomy. Dr. Jill V. Hunter, staff neuroradiologist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, evaluated whether three-dimensional holograms more completely display anomalies of the cervical spine. These anomalies can be extraordinarily hard to interpret because of the difficulties in assessing an unpredictable three-dimensional problem from a 2D stack of slices. Dr. Hunter reviewed 19 cases of cranio-cervical anomaly. The patients, who ranged in age from two to 28 years old, had been investigated with CT and/or MRI. "In all cases 3D visualisation of the complete data set on a single film increased the speed and confidence of the read," she said. In two cases, surgeons used the holograms to pre-plan surgery, to explain to parents the nature of their child's problem and in used them in an interactive fashion in the operating room. Dr. Hunter found that holography enhances understanding of the anatomy by virtue of the transparent 3D display on film. "Analysis of true 3D holograms, which can also be flipped and inverted to view the data set from the opposite direction, has proven invaluable in the understanding of the unexpected relationships of these often abnormally formed bones," she said. Dr. C. Gene Coin and colleagues at the University of Miami-Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital evaluated CT, helical CT (HCT) and volumetric holography in cervical trauma patients. The doctor retrospectively studied 78 trauma patients with fractures of the cervical spine. Volumetric holograms were produced from the HCT data in 12 cases, which were selected based on the quality of the CT data, the discrepancy between plain film and CT findings, and clinical appropriateness. When adequate data was available, cases of facet dislocation or bony fragment intrusion into the spinal canal were selected. "In cervical spine trauma patients, CT and HCT are more accurate than plain films," he said. “Volumetric holography correctly diagnosed one fracture and one dislocation that had been missed by HCT and correctly diagnosed by plain films. One false positive by HCT was correctly diagnosed by holography." Dr. Coin found that in selected cases volumetric holography using the same HCT data added significant diagnostic information and was of additional value. The holograms were convenient and gave an added perspective for surgical and teaching purposes. Dr. Coin said he believes that HCT combined with holographic display has a future potential for eliminating plain films of the cervical spine in trauma patients. The Digital Holography System was awarded FDA clearance in September 1995.
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