October 8, 2018 – Augmenteum Inc., an augmented reality (AR) innovator, announced that Thorassist, a multi-user AR education and training experience delivered by Augmenteum, will be presented at the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) Annual Meeting 2018 in San Antonio TX, on Tuesday, October 9. Carla R. Lamb, M.D. of the Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, Burlington MA, will use Thorassist to demonstrate bronchoscopic anatomy and procedures for management of trachael diseases. Approximately 90 users will participate in the session. Videos highlights of the Thorassist demonstration will be available at www.augmenteum.com after the presentation.Thorassist has been developed by Augmenteum under the direction of Dr. Lamb as a group and individual learning tool for bronchoscopic anatomy and procedures. Thorassist enables users to visualize the anatomy of the lungs using AR to display a 3D digital image created by VIDA Diagnostics Inc. from life-like thoracic anatomy reconstructed imagery. It also enables users to visualize bronchoscopic procedures by displaying interior views that a physician would see during a procedure.
“Thorassist is an exciting new tool to help educate doctors in the complex field of interventional pulmonology,” said Carla Lamb, M.D., its creator. “Knowledge of the anatomy and the experience of procedures is challenging for new specialists to understand and retain. Thorassist provides an environment in which I can help students understand the anatomy and learn procedures using detailed models, at much lower cost than other technologies such as virtual reality.”
Overview of Thorassist
Thorassist is a shared, multi-user application with instructor-led and independent operating modes. Participants use iPads to see and interact with digital 3D models of the lungs and airway tree. In the instructor-led mode, the instructor controls the digital model and manipulates it for all users, like using physical models in a classroom environment. For example, the instructor can rotate the lungs to highlight important anatomical features and all users will see the same view on their iPads. In the independent mode, each user controls and manipulates the digital model independently. Thorassist is built on Augmenteum’s Classroom template and distributed from Augmenteum’s Cloud services platform.
“Classroom begins to realize our vision of delivering AR experiences for everyone, everywhere,” said David Palacios, Augmenteum’s founder and CTO. “It shows the tremendous potential of an AR experience shared by many simultaneous users. We will create additional shared multi-user experiences that bring AR to many different applications, from the workplace to home.”
“Thorassist is an outstanding implementation of our Classroom experience,” said Andrew O’Brien, Augmenteum’s CEO. “It utilizes AR to visualize 3D models to improve end users’ understanding of very complex content and procedures. It leverages Augmenteum’s ability to deliver shared AR experiences for many simultaneous users, as well as provide a “take-home” experience for individuals to use on their own.”
Overview of Classroom
Classroom is a new type of shared, multi-user AR experience. It can be utilized in many applications that require demonstration of digital 3D content such as design reviews in architecture, engineering, product design and manufacturing; and presentations in sales, marketing, training and conferences. It supports both local and remote users, enabling distributed sessions. The Augmenteum Cloud content management system supports the popular 3D model file formats supported by content creation tools. The mobile app can be a standalone app, or integrated into an existing app. To discuss how your content can be integrated into a Classroom experience, contact Augmenteum via our web site www.augmenteum.com.
Demonstration details
Thorassist will be demonstrated on Tuesday, October 9, 2018, at 5pm in session 10914: Integrating Augmented Reality in Airway and Thoracic Anatomy Recognition with Role in Identifying Pulmonary Nodules. The session is chaired by Dr. Lamb and subsessions will be led by Samira Shojaee, M.D. and A. Christine Argento, M.D.