If 30-year-old UCLA mathematician Joseph Teran’s dream comes true, it can mean a boost in the success rate of surgeries, leading to a lot more lives saved.
According to his concept of surgical simulation, surgeons would be able to practice surgery on a biologically accurate 3-D ‘digital double’ of a patient before operating on the actual patient, to reduce chances of error and to be able to learn from their mistakes. Teran is positive that in near future, astonishingly real digital doubles will be made in a matter of minutes.
The base of this technology, Teran mentions, lies in modern applied Mathematics, computational geometry and scientific computing. The behavior of tissues, muscles and skin, Teran explains, can be accounted for by a classical mathematical theory, similar to most everyday behaviors. Teran’s applied mathematics can also be used to design more durable bridges, freeways, cars and aircraft.
Teran hopes for a day when a surgeon would ‘practice’ on a digital double of a patient on the other side of the globe, before the patient actually flies off to be operated. He is also positive that medical schools will take resort to computer surgical stimulation to train aspiring physicians. This concept, if successful, would undoubtedly revolutionize the face of medical science.
Source: Science Blog
