When it comes to the complex terms and intricate scientific details that so often muddy the communication of scientific findings to the general public, a picture may indeed be worth a thousand words. Over the past several years, computer animators have turned increasingly to visually arresting 3-D images to explain advances in cancer research to lay persons, the media, and even venture capitalists. New computer tools and lower costs are fueling this trend.
Marie Dauenheimer, an illustrator for Medical Illustrations Studio in Reston, Va., has done extensive work in two-dimensional illustrations but has recently expanded to the world of 3-D animation. One of her projects with Agouron Pharmaceuticals in Ontario, Canada, involved a 3-D video animation of the company's new matrix metalloprotease (MMP) inhibitor, which is under investigation for the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer. Dauenheimer was given 8 days to deliver the product before it was shown to a group of venture capitalists.
"A few years ago, we wouldn't have had the computer resources or capacity to
create something of this ilk that quickly. Yet today we were able to design rather elegant
animation that showed the drug traveling through the blood stream, into the epithelial layers and
eventually stopping the blood supply to the tumor," said Dauenheimer.
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Stacey Jannis, a 3-D animation producer based in Washington, D.C., has produced for the National Institutes of Health a "Fantastic Voyage" -like depiction of oxidative damage and repair that has found multiple uses at a number of institutes.
With the advent of new software that gives greater dimensionality to animation, Jannis said,
"we're seeing a greater demand for this kind of product. Adding labels and
voice-over narration within the animation helps clarify critical points and allows non-scientific
audiences to grasp the intricacies of complex anatomical and molecular processes."
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Engineering Animation Inc. of Ames, Iowa, won a contract from NLM to segment various images from the Visible Human male. Extracting 3-D information from computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scans of various cancers using the Visible Human segmentation is one area that shows great promise and may be of tremendous use to surgeons operating on certain kinds of tumors, speculates Adrian Sannier of Engineering Animation Inc.
According to Richard Banvard of NLM, "the next step for us will be to digitize different body types and modify the `normal' body to one that is abnormal. The beauty of the system is that it's entirely digital and easily modifiable." Banvard said that NLM plans to develop more detailed head and neck imaging with a long-range goal of looking at disease images which would be of great use to doctors who deal with these tumors.
Finally, in an attempt to understand how these new animated tools are being incorporated into everyday life, Thomas Robinson, M.D., of Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California, conducted a study to examine the status of interactive health communications.
One of the chief advantages of better digital graphics capabilities would be that "more people, including traditionally underserved people in rural or poor neighborhoods, might gain access to information that has been out of their reach or understanding," he said. Robinson added a caveat, however, that "the growing use of interactive media applications should raise legitimate questions about their quality, cost, and potential to cause harm due to inaccurate or inappropriate reporting."
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