We humans are tribal, grouping ourselves by a multitude of criteria: physical, intellectual, political, emotional, etc. The Internet and its auxiliary technologies have enabled a novel dimension in tribal behavior during our recent past. This growing connectivity begs the question: will individuals and their communities come together to solve some very urgent global problems? At MMVR, we explore ways to harness information technology to solve healthcare problems - and in the industrialized nations we are making progress. In the developing world however, things are more challenging. Massive urban poverty fuels violence and misery. Will global networking bring a convergence of individual and tribal problem-solving? Recently, a barrel-shaped water carrier that rolls along the ground was presented, improving daily life for many people. Also the One Laptop per Child project is a good example of how the industrialized nations can help the developing countries. They produce durable and simple laptops which are inexpensive to produce. At MMVR, we focus on cutting-edge medical technology, which is generally pretty expensive. While the benefits of innovation trickle downward, from the privileged few to the broader masses, we should expand this trickle into a flood. Can breakthrough applications in stimulation, visualization, robotics, and informatics engender tools as ingeniously as the water carrier or laptop? With some extra creativity, we can design better healthcare for the developing world too.

Since the debut of the Medicine Meets Virtual Reality (MMVR) conference in 1992, MMVR has served as a forum for researchers harnessing IT advances for the benefit of patient diagnosis and care, medical education and procedural training. At MMVR, virtual reality becomes a theatre for medicine, where multiple senses are engaged - sight, sound and touch - and language and image fuse. Precisely because this theatre is unreal, it is a valuable tool: the risks of experimentation and failure are gone, while the opportunity to understand remains. Improvement of this tool, through steady technological progress, is the purpose of MMVR. This book presents papers delivered at the MMVR18 / NextMed conference, held in Newport Beach, California, in February 2011, with contributions from international researchers whose work creates new devices and methods at the juncture of informatics and medicine. Subjects covered include simulation and learning, visualization and information-guided therapy, robotics and haptics, virtual reality and advanced ICT in Europe, validation of new surgical techniques, and many other applications of virtual-reality technology. As its name suggests, the NextMed conference looks forward to the expanding role that virtual reality can play in global healthcare. This overview of current technology will interest those who dedicate themselves to improving medicine through technology.

Since 1992, when it began as the Medicine Meets Virtual Reality conference, NextMed/MMVR has been a forum for researchers utilizing IT advances to improve diagnosis and therapy, medical education, and procedural training. Scientists and engineers, physicians and other care providers, educators and students, military medicine specialists, futurists, and industry all come together with the shared goal of making healthcare more precise and effective.This book presents the proceedings of the 20th NextMed/MMVR conference, held in San Diego, California, USA, in February 2013. It covers a wide range of topics simulation, modeling,

The 17th annual Medicine Meets Virtual Reality (MMVR17) was held January 19-22, 2009, in Long Beach, CA, USA. The conference is well established as a forum for emerging data-centered technologies for medical care and education. This proceedings volume is of interest to physicians, surgeons and other medical professionals.

In the early 1990s, a small group of individuals recognized how virtual reality (VR) could transform medicine by immersing physicians, students and patients in data more completely. Technical obstacles delayed progress but VR is now enjoying a renaissance, with breakthrough applications available for healthcare. This book presents papers from the Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 22 conference, held in Los Angeles, California, USA, in April 2016. Engineers, physicians, scientists, educators, students, industry, military, and futurists participated in its creative mix of unorthodox thinking and validated investigation. The topics covered include medical simulation and modeling, imaging and visualization, robotics, haptics, sensors, physical and mental rehabilitation tools, and more. Providing an overview of the state-of-the-art, this book will interest all those involved in medical VR and in innovative healthcare, generally.

A physician who is treating a patient confronts a complex and incompletely understood living system that is sensitive to pain. An engineer or programmer who develops a new device, on the other hand, operates within the less emotional domains of materials and mathematics. The Medicine Meets Virtual Reality (MMVR) conference brings together physicians, scientists, engineers, educators, students, and others to bridge the gap between clinicians and technologists, and to create collaborative solutions to healthcare challenges. This book presents the proceedings of the Medicine Meets Virtual Reality conference (MMVR19), held in Newport Beach, California, USA, in February 2012. It includes papers on modeling and simulation, imaging, data visualization and fusion, haptics, robotics, telemedicine and medical intelligence networking, virtual and augmented reality, psychotherapy and physical rehabilitation tools, serious games, and other topics. MMVR stimulates interaction between developers and end users and promotes unorthodox problem-solving as a complement to rigorous scientific methodology. This book will interest all who are involved with the future of medicine. close

MMVR offers solutions for problems in clinical care through the phenomenally expanding potential of computer technology. Computer-based tools promise to improve healthcare while reducing cost - a vital requirement in today's economic environment. This seventh annual MMVR focuses on the healthcare needs of women. Women every where demand more attention to breast cancer, cervical cancer, ageing-related conditions. Electronic tools provide the means to revolutionise diagnosis, treatment and education. The book demonstrates what new tools can improve the care of their female patients. As minimally invasive procedures are mainstreamed, advanced imaging and robotics tools become indispensable. The internet and other networks establish new venues for communication and research. Medical education, as well as clinical care, is enhanced by systems allowing instruction and professional interaction in ways never before possible and with efficiency never before achieved. Telemedicine networks now permit providers to meet patients needs where previously impossible. MMVR strengthens the link between healthcare providers and their patients. The volume contains selected papers authored by presenters at the conference. Areas of focus include Computer-Assisted Surgery, Data Fusion & Informatics, Diagnostic Tools, Education & Training, Mental Health, Modelling, Net Architecture, Robotics, Simulation, Telemedicine, Telepresence and Visualisation.