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Performance
of 50 Completed ATP Projects
Status
Report - Number 2
NIST SP 950-2
Chapter
5 - Information Technology
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Engineering
Animation, Inc. (EAI)
Three-Dimensional Anatomy of Human Body,
With Animation, for Medical Training
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| Every
day, surgeons operate on thousands of patients around the country.
For each operation, the surgeon and support staff have trained in
some way to perform the delicate surgical procedures, some of them
training on cadavers in medical school and others learning by doing.
For each operation, the patient has gone through a learning experience
as well, via conversations with doctors and nurses, while first considering
and then preparing for the surgery. Occasionally, patients get to
see a video of another person undergoing the procedure to be performed
on them. |
COMPOSITE
PERFORMANCE SCORE
(Based on a four star rating.)
|
Animated 3D Anatomy
This ATP project enabled Engineering Animation, Inc. (EAI) — a small
company founded in 1988 in Ames, Iowa, and specializing in three-dimensional
(3D) visualization — to develop a new set of computer-based technologies
for making training tools to help surgeons and patients better understand
important aspects of surgical procedures before they are performed. The
technology was developed for use in health care, medical research, medical
education, surgical planning, rehabilitation equipment design, and patient
education prior to surgery.
EAI was established
to create software that can show animated 3D objects, and its initial
products were used in court cases to present re-enactments of car crashes
and other events. The company sought ATP funding to develop new methods
that would enable it to extend its technical capabilities to depict the
inner parts of the body, not just the exterior. In the process, the company
hoped to extend understanding of human anatomy. Its attempts would be
path-breaking, since there were then no other known efforts to gather
digital anatomical data from different sources into one uniform database
or to present that data in 3D motion.
 |
| The breathing
patterns of asthma patients are demonstrated with a computer-generated
dynamic model of the lungs. This is one of a sequence of images —
the next one in the sequence has the ribs removed. |
“Walk-Through”
Surgery
During the ATP project, EAI researchers developed algorithms for a system
that can show realistic 3D images of human body parts and their motion.
The pictures of tissues and organs can be manipulated to present a walk-through
of surgery. The 3D aspect is critical, because flat pictures do not provide
enough information for a good understanding of anatomy and surgical procedures.
Dynamics, or animation, is also important because joints bend, the heart
beats and the lungs contract and expand. Seeing these motions is extremely
useful to surgeons planning an operation. Realism, too, is critical so
that the images look like natural anatomy.
The realism of these
images was achieved by using new databases with digitized, two-dimensional
(2D) images showing cross-sections of human cadavers from head to toe.
Several rganizations provided these databases, including a highly detailed
one from the National Library of Medicine. Using newly developed methods
to combine 2D images, the researchers put together a complete 3D representation
of the human body, including the exterior and all distinct interior parts.
With its ATP award,
EAI developed large databases with detailed, digitized images of a generic
human body and the associated technologies for storing and accessing the
information. The project succeeded in depicting the whole body (male and
female versions) as a 3D computer-generated image, as well as separately
showing each interior part — bones, muscles, heart, lungs, brain
and so forth.
Software Tools Commercialized
Substantial commercialization has been achieved and further effort is
under way. After making sufficient progress on the research and development
work of the ATP project, EAI used its own funds to combine the new technology
and databases with its existing software in a new product — the Virtual
Human — for use in medical training. The company began offering the
Virtual Human at the end of the ATP funding period but was unable to sell
a single copy of it because the hardware was so expensive. The costs for
setting up the system using a Silicon Graphics workstation and the Unix
operating system ran as high as $100,000. The company delayed commercialization
of that product to modify the software and databases to operate on lower-cost
personal computers running the Microsoft NT operating system. The company
has recently successfully converted other products to run on the lower-cost
systems, and is on track to do the same for products derived from the
Virtual Human product.
 |
| A snapshot
of the beating human heart shown with the output of an EKG, at one
point in time. In use, both are dynamic — the heart beats in
time with the EKG, so medical students can visualize the relation
of the beating heart to electrical impulses captured by the EKG. |
In the meantime, much
of the ATP-funded technology that went into the Virtual Human has been
adapted to three CD-ROMs (The Dissectable Human™, The Dynamic Human™,
and CardioViewer 3D™) and two medical books which use unique prints
showing layers of body parts. All five products are now being marketed
by Mosby-Year Book, a subsidiary of Times-Mirror. In addition, EAI has
formed an alliance with Elsevier Science to create 3D multimedia titles
in the neuroscience area. These products have achieved several of EAI’s
original marketing objectives and have been used successfully in training
medical students. One professor who used The Dynamic Human™ as a
teaching aid reported that her students “seem to retain more information
after using this visual tool” and “are more excited about anatomy
and physiology when the material is viewed with 3D animation and graphics
on a computer screen.” The company has also incorporated its ATP-funded
technology, both the anatomical database and the motion capability, in
the tools it uses to provide custom modeling in biomedicine, health education,
human body animation, and entertainment.
EAI is especially
interested in offering its software as training tools for surgery via
laparoscopy (for example, using a laparoscope to look into the abdomen)
or other less-invasive surgical procedures. One candidate for this type
of treatment is abdominal aortic aneurysm, which afflicts 1.5 million
people in the United States each year. If left untreated, the aorta can
rupture, usually causing death. This type of open-surgery repair has a
morbidity rate of 15 percent to 40 percent.
In January 1997, EAI
entered into an agreement to develop software that will support Endovascular
Technologies’s Endovascular Grafting System, a less-invasive, less
costly alternative to open vascular surgery that should lead to lower
mortality, fewer complications, shorter hospital stays, and quicker patient
recoveries. The software will automatically calculate key aortic measurements,
based on actual CT (computerized tomography) data, and enable doctors
to walk through a patient’s anatomy on the computer. The software
allows doctors to identify structures, discern damaged and healthy tissue,
and determine a patient’s condition without performing invasive procedures.
This application is directly dependent on the technology developed by
the ATP project.
Better-Trained Doctors
The CD-ROMs and books developed or bundled with the new technology and
databases have benefited anatomy and physiology students. The successful
modification of the Virtual Human product for less-expensive computers,
which will bring down the cost of the complete system, has the potential
for creating large economy-wide benefits. In many areas of surgery, less
physically invasive procedures are replacing traditional techniques. Angioplasty,
for example, can often be used instead of open surgery to repair blood
vessels. If the Virtual Human proves valuable in training for these and
other surgical techniques, then less-invasive procedures would likely
be used more often in surgery. And by reducing the need for painful, highly
invasive surgeries, the ATP-funded technology would lower the costs and
improve the quality of health care. If this happens, the value of the
resulting benefits will be counted in the hundreds, possibly thousands,
of dollars for each patient treated by a doctor trained with the system
— and could amount to life itself.
Transition from Consulting
to Software Products
At the beginning of the ATP award period, June 1992, the company had 20
employees. By the end of 1997 it had 400 employees, and near the end of
1998 it had more than 900. Total revenues in 1992 were $1 million. By
1994 they had grown to $5.5 million, and in 1996 they were $20.4 million.
By 1997, after accounting for mergers, revenues had grown to $49.7 million.
EAI reports that the
ATP project was a huge part of this commercial success. “This cost
sharing enabled us to assemble technology,” said Dr. Martin Vanderploeg,
EAI executive vice-president, in 1994 during the ATP project. “The
award was a major event that launched us into this growth phase,”
he added.# In 1994, EAI’s total expenditures on research and development
were $869,000, and in that year it received $564,000 from its ATP grant,
about 65 percent of its total research and development budget.
When it applied for
the ATP grant in 1991, EAI’s only revenues were from consulting fees
for providing support in court cases, and it had no software products
on the market. By 1997, it was no longer reporting this line of business
separately, and its computer animation software products had become its
major activity.
 |
| A person’s
body is more than just the “dry bones” of the skeleton;
here the heart and major arteries and veins are shown in their proper
places within or along-side the bones. |
The company has since
its inception sought to exploit synergies among all its technological
assets, continually seeking ways for the company’s product lines
to benefit from and build upon each other. For instance, it utilizes its
3D visualization software products internally, to improve its ability
to deliver high-quality, interactive animation software products, such
as CD-ROM medical education products, in a timely manner. But the flow
of technology works in the other direction as well, according to company
publications, because it is continuously modifying and enhancing the 3D
visualization software as it develops new interactive software products.
Awards for Technical
Achievements Roll In
EAI began to receive awards for its technical achievements in 1994. In
that year, it received the Smithsonian Award from Computerworld magazine
for the use of information technology in the field of medicine. The next
year, it received the Award of Excellence in Animation from the Association
of Medical Illustrators, and was a finalist, together with Walt Disney
Studios, in the International ANNIE Awards category for best animations
in the film industry. And in 1996, EAI was one of 25 recipients of the
Technology and Innovation Award from Industry Week, specifically for its
interactive 3D visualization and dynamics products used in the manufacturing
sector for product development.
ATP Funding Plays
a Crucial Role
According to EAI officials, the company would not have been able do its
research and development work without the ATP funds. The award enabled
EAI to establish collaborations with the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins
University, and work performed during the ATP project facilitated collaboration
with the National Library of Medicine on a later project. And it enabled
the company to significantly extend its capabilities in computer visualization
and computational dynamics, providing new technology that could be applied
to other areas of the company’s activities.
Having the award and
doing the project also made EAI more attractive to potential investors.
This was crucial in the early years of the company. In a 1995 interview
with a reporter from the Wall Street Journal, Matthew Rizai, CEO of the
company, noted that winning the ATP award — which was for $1.9 million
— gave him leverage with private investors, from whom he raised an
additional $1.5 million.# And the company says the ATP grant continued
to be important to investors as it conducted its initial public stock
offering in February 1996, a few months after the ATP project ended, raising
$30.5 million.
Outstanding Commercial
Performance
The company’s recent rapid growth, accomplishments, and recognition
received are impressive. Over the past 10 years it has emerged from the
ranks of start-up to a company employing nearly 1,000 people. It has made
the transition from a company heavily dependent on consulting revenues
to one which relies on high-value software products. Its success has depended
substantially on the internal integration of all its technical assets
to develop new products in a variety of fields that draw on its technologies
for very large database manipulation and visualization of motion, and
on its belief that the company can succeed only if it brings those new
products into the market.
In the September 1997
issue of Individual Investor magazine, EAI was named one of “America’s
Fastest Growing Companies.” And, early in 1998, two additional magazines
recognized the company’s achievements. Business Week magazine,
in its January 12, 1998, issue, recognized Matthew Rizai, the company
CEO, as one of the best entrepreneurs of 1997, and Forbes ASAP
magazine, in its February 23, 1998, issue, recognized the company as one
of the 100 most dynamic technology companies in the United States —
with a rank of number eight.
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Project
Highlights
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PROJECT:
To develop computer visualization and computational dynamics technology
for presenting animated 3D images of the human body and its parts
in order to improve medical education and surgical simulation.
Duration: 7/1/92 — 6/30/95
ATP Number: 91-01-0184
FUNDING (in
thousands):
| ATP |
$1,947
|
76%
|
| Company |
625
|
24%
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| Total |
$2,572
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ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
EAI developed core algorithms to enable the creation of 3D images
from sets of 2D cross-sectional images of the human body. Researchers
organized and integrated these digitized images in a large database
and developed the technology to present them as animated visualizations
of human anatomy. The company also:
- received
the Smithsonian Award from Computerworld magazine in 1994, for
the use of information technology in the field of medicine;
- received
the Award of Excellence in Animation from the Association of Medical
Illustrators in 1995;
- was a finalist,
together with Walt Disney Studios, in the International ANNIE
Awards category in 1995, for best animations in the film industry;
- produced
and started offering the Virtual Human software, to run on a Silicon
Graphics workstation, in June 1995;
- adapted the
Virtual Human technology for three CD-ROMs using dynamic 3D visualization
and for two publications, all of which are now on the market;
- incorporated
the ATP-funded technology in the tools EAI uses to provide custom
modeling in biomedicine, health education, and custom animation;
- raised $30.5
million via an initial public stock offering in February 1996;
- opened international
offices in 1997 and 1998, in England, France, Germany, Italy,
and Malaysia;
- received
one of the 25 Technology and Innovation Awards from Industry Week
in 1996;
- entered into
an agreement in January 1997 to develop software that supports
Endovascular Technologies’ Endovascular Grafting System —
a less-invasive, less-costly alternative to open vascular surgery
that should lead to lower mortality, fewer complications, shorter
hospital stays, and quicker recoveries;
- raised another
$26.6 million via a second public stock offering in June 1997;
- was named
one of “America’s Fastest Growing Companies” by
Individual Investor magazine, September, 1997;
- had its CEO,
Matthew Rizai, recognized as one of the best entrepreneurs of
1997 by Business Week magazine, January 12, 1998; and
- was recognized
as one of the 100 most dynamic technology companies in the US
— with a rank of number eight — by Forbes ASAP magazine,
Feb. 23, 1998.
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COMMERCIALIZATION
STATUS:
The new computer visualization and computational dynamics technology
developed in this project has been successfully commercialized.
Though an early product called the “Virtual Human” was
not commercially successful because it could only be run on a very
expensive work station, much of the technology was adapted for three
CD-ROMs and two print publications and has also been used to create
CD-ROMs that supplement medical books and are sold as a bundled
package. Increased sales of medical books are attributed to the
CD-ROMs. Software to support open vascular surgery is being tested
and has shown promising results. This rapidly expanding company
is now active in a multiplicity of applications featuring 3D animations
which utilize computer visualization and computational dynamics.
OUTLOOK:
Further potential applications of the technical capabilities developed
in the ATP project — and extended by subsequent research and
product development — appear abundant. When a reduced-price
hardware/software system to support the Virtual Human technology
becomes available, potential economy-wide benefits should be large
as a result of likely wide-spread use of the technology in health
care.
Composite
Performance Score:
COMPANY:
Engineering Animation, Inc. (EAI)
2625 N. Loop Drive
Ames, IA 50010
Contact:
Mike Sellberg
Phone: (515) 296-9908
Number of employees: 20 at project start, 400 at the end
of 1997
Informal collaborators: The Mayo Clinic, Biomechanics Laboratory;
Johns Hopkins University
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Return to Table
of Contents or go to next section.
Date created: April
2002
Last updated:
April 12, 2005
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