Virtually image perfect The idea that you can practise dangerous diagnostic techniques in a virtual 3-D world before being let loose on patients has long been an ambition of Philip Cosson. For training students to carry out procedures like X-rays safely has become a headache for lecturers in recent years since fewer and fewer patients are prepared to be treated by students.
Philip, a senior lecturer in medical imaging at the University of Teesside, said his interest was aroused in 2001 after a casual conversation on the way home from a conference. ‘I remember saying wouldn’t it be great if we could train radiographers using computer simulation’, he recalled. ‘After all, airline pilots learn to fly jumbo jets using simulators.’
Six years later – and after thousands of hours of difficult computer programming – Philip’s University spin-out company, Shaderware Ltd, has now sold its first batch of software overseas. And radiography students at Teesside are privileged to be using the only virtual radiography training facility in the UK.
‘Now we can do it, we are starting to discover simulation’s great potential’, he said. It couldn’t have been done, he added, without the help of a series of master’s students from the School of Computing who used the research as the basis of their projects.
The real breakthrough came when Neil Willis, a graduate from the MSc Computer Animation and Graphical Technology Applications, got involved. ‘Most students on my course were interested in computer gaming, or perhaps the film world, but that wasn’t my focus’, said Neil, pictured with Philip.
‘I was interested in the more scientific applications and, after speaking to Phil, I helped him realise his vision of creating a virtual training environment for radiographers.’
But it was a big challenge since Neil had to simulate real-time moving images at a rate of 30 times per second – much faster than anything being offered by any existing technology. A human body had previously been scanned and photographed in the US and this data was used in the software to simulate a patient so that students can look at an X-ray room, move the patient and equipment around, and take a ‘real’ or virtual X-ray.
The project went on to win a British Computer Society prize and Neil was keen to develop what had been an academic exercise into a commercial product.
Grants from the University of Teesside Enterprise Development and DigitalCity helped, and work on the project continued until the company was launched. ‘I was very driven, probably because I was a mature student and had given up a lot to do this’, Neil explained. Philip is optimistic. ‘On-screen simulation can’t replace clinical experience but it does give students a very controlled and safe environment in which to develop their skills. And of course with a simulation we can expose students to rarer situations than they are likely to see on any of their clinical placements.’
+ Shaderware Ltd has made it through to the regional finals of the Blueprint awards – a competition for the best and most innovative business ideas from university students and staff.'