The Visible Human Project
Can it Bring a Supercomputer to its Knees?
Project Overview
The Visible Human Dataset, created at the University of Colorado School
of Medicine, as part of the National
Library of Medicine's Visible Human Project,
will provide the radiologic and photographic definition of a
complete, human male cadaver at a resolution of 1mm in all three dimensions.
The Project was funded by the National Library of Medicine in order to
develop a computer database of human anatomy for visualization in teaching
and research. Assistance in rendering the volumetric visualizations is
being provided by the Visualization and Digital Information Group of the
Scientific Computing Division
at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, located in Boulder, Colorado.
The Project Image Database
The image database is publicly available November 1, 1994. It consists of
1,878 CT scans, all 1mm thick and on 1mm centers and congruent photographs
of the same slices. These photographs were obtained by
sectioning the body at
1mm increments and capturing a 2048 x 1216 digital image in 24-bit color at
every level. These images have been registered and therefore, can be restacked
to define the human body at every location in space with 1mm voxels. The
voxels have attributes of red, green and blue color in addition to the electron
density provided by the CT images.
Uses of the Visible Human Database
Intended uses and applications of the image database include teaching and
modeling applications, most of these uses require the segmentation
and classification of the volume data into anatomical objects.
The process of segmenting and classifying
is currently under development. Teaching applications will range from
identifying anatomical
structures on the cross sections to visualizing full motion of the human
form. It is this kind of interactive total body control and simulation
(including simultaneous modeling of all the synergistic and antogonistic
muscle motions) that will challenge today's best supercomputing facilities.
Supercomputing and Visualization Resources Used
The project is using NCAR's Cray Y-MP8/864 supercomputer and SGI
Onyx and Indigo processors, which are part of SCD's Scientific Visualization
Laboratory, for segmentation and rendering of the knee of the Visible Human Male. We are currently
investigating simplifications which will permit realistic biomechanical
motion
of this joint with constraints of all the of the bones and ligaments and
forces of
muscles and tendons afforded us by this unique source of real human
anatomy.
We are also investigating motion control and physiological function in
other
areas of the body, such as the viscera of the abdomen.
Karl Reinig, Victor Spitzer
University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado
Don Middleton, John Clyne, Bill Buzbee
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado