Virtual You

This just in, or rather news to me, IBM this fall launched a prototype 3-D anatomy avatar which, linked to your electronic medical record (still in the future, of course) will let your doctor tool around your body examining what has ailed you. The Anatomic and Symbolic Mapper Engine unveiled in Zurich, lets a doctor click on the avatar and engage a search of medical records for relevant information. Its akin to Google Earth or Virtual Earth for the body, according to IBM.

Perhaps, but until they throw it up on the Web for everyone to play with, not exactly. And it's likely to be as much or more of a boon for patients says Spotsylvania, Va., risk analyst Robert Charette in the January issue of Spectrum, the magazine of IEEE, the technology professionals association. He quotes Andre Elisseeff, who leads the ASNE research team at IBM’s Zurich Research Lab, as saying: “We would not be surprised if it helps more the patients actually than doctors.”