Researchers Use 'Virtual Patients'
to Safely Test Health Care Procedures
Researchers are using computerized models known as "virtual patients" to test medical devices and procedures that might not be practical with real patients because of safety risks, the Wall Street Journal reports.
According to the Journal, medical testing is rarely performed on children and pregnant women because of concerns that it could pose health risks.
Virtual patients -- which are digital models that use medical data, and computer software and graphics to imitate real patients -- allow researchers to study issues such as how radiation from a CT scan might affect a pregnancy and how heart defibrillators should be implanted in children.
Research Opportunities
According to FDA, virtual patients could allow medical device manufacturers to test new products earlier, market them faster and offer them at a lower cost.
In addition, such technology could allow physicians and medical students to perform certain surgical procedures virtually while using real equipment.
Current Applications
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are studying how radiation affects the human body. Individuals who are obese typically require higher doses of radiation because fat can scatter radiation waves. By exposing virtual patients to doses similar to those in CT scans or radiation treatment, researchers were able to identify more accurate measurements of how much additional radiation an obese person requires.
Rensselaer Polytechnic researchers also have developed computer software that measures how much radiation certain organs absorb. The software -- called VirtualDose -- was used recently for a simulation of a pregnant woman undergoing an abdominal CT scan. The researchers found that the fetus absorbed 40% less radiation than what was calculated by another software tool currently in use.
Meanwhile, FDA researchers are using virtual patients to test how best to implant medical devices in children and to study ways to improve diagnostic techniques (Wang, Wall Street Journal, 12/20).
iHealthBeat, Wednesday, December 21, 2011