We're creating a digital human. Under the supervision of Victor Spitzer at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, the cadavers were thoroughly X-rayed and imaged with CT and MRI scans. They were then encased in blue gelatin and frozen. The male was carved into 1,871 1-millimeter slices, the female into 5,189 slices, each a third of a millimeter thick. As each slice was shaved off, it was photographed and the image converted into digital form that could be processed by computers.
Images are available over the Internet.
Despite that early success, enthusiasm waned because of the limits on how the data could be viewed, said Michigan's Athey. Improving anatomy lessons That's beginning to change. Several groups, including those at Michigan, Colorado and Stanford University, are developing new tools while also taking advantage of the next-generation Internet, which would move data 1,000 times faster than today's Internet. Michigan's Athey is working with the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center to adapt the Visible Human for use by medical students studying gross anatomy. Students would use the computer program to complement what they learn from dissecting a cadaver.