Virtual reality anatomy

[ajs513]

Does anyone have experience with VR anatomy programs? I know some schools (VMCVM, TAMU) have VR programs either in the works or available for students to use, but does anyone know of any for students to use at home? I’ve seen JetsonVR but don’t want to buy it without hearing people’s thoughts on it first. ShareCareYou was a program that helped me a lot in undergrad anatomy, and seeing anatomy in VR is great for studying what everything looks like in its most perfect form. Especially since you can put everything back together.

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[TheGirlWithTheFernTattoo]

VIN has an online 3D online anatomy software, and CSU Anatomy of the Dog allows you to rotate things around and dissect muscle by muscle.

Both are useful, I use them a lot. However nothing will truly compare to fresh specimen. I find they help me understand what I'm actually looking at on my fresh specimen, which allows me to get more out of my studying.

 

[johnsmith123]

I've never used JetsonVR but it looks like it's based on the Easy Anatomy program, which I have used. It hasn't been useful for me as there is plenty of detail that is left out and everything looks very fake. As mentioned above, I've heard good things about the Colorado program but have never used it myself. The University of Minnesota has free, online dog and cat dissection videos which covers most of the structures we need to identify and I would highly recommend checking that out as that has gotten me through a good portion of Gross Anatomy.

 

[ajs513]

VIN has an online 3D online anatomy software, and CSU Anatomy of the Dog allows you to rotate things around and dissect muscle by muscle.

Both are useful, I use them a lot. However nothing will truly compare to fresh specimen. I find they help me understand what I'm actually looking at on my fresh specimen, which allows me to get more out of my studying.

I've never used JetsonVR but it looks like it's based on the Easy Anatomy program, which I have used. It hasn't been useful for me as there is plenty of detail that is left out and everything looks very fake. As mentioned above, I've heard good things about the Colorado program but have never used it myself. The University of Minnesota has free, online dog and cat dissection videos which covers most of the structures we need to identify and I would highly recommend checking that out as that has gotten me through a good portion of Gross Anatomy.

I’ve used these before, and they’re really cool and seem helpful. I’m mainly looking for programs for VR systems, like the oculus rift. If you look up ShareCare You, that’s the kind of thing I want. What you don’t get with a regular anatomy simulation is the ability to make things huge. With ShareCare you can literally stand inside of a heart the size of a building and look at different parts. So the ability to expand a dog’s body to the size of a room and physically get up close to its 20 ft leg to look at tendons and ligaments would be really useful. Mainly as a way to know what I’m looking at and then expand on that with cadaver dissections. It’s what I did for undergrad comparative mammalian anatomy, but I was limited because ShareCare is only for humans so I could only use it for analogous things like the heart and kidneys.

Side note, if anyone is going to Penn in the fall and wants to try out VR, I’ll probably end up getting JetsonVR and if it’s any good, come try it out! I’ll have my VR system set up at my place near school.

 

[cdo96]

VIN has an online 3D online anatomy software, and CSU Anatomy of the Dog allows you to rotate things around and dissect muscle by muscle.

Both are useful, I use them a lot. However nothing will truly compare to fresh specimen. I find they help me understand what I'm actually looking at on my fresh specimen, which allows me to get more out of my studying.

I recommend this, but don’t try to stick with VIN for equine/ food animal anatomy, it’s sooo bad. They have like the stay apparatus isolated and labeled but it’s sooooo bad imo

 

[MixedAnimals77]

The VIN equine has been updated and is way better than even last semester so improvements slowly but surely!

Also UMN has some good stuff for dogs but I think that's only computer compatible.

 

[JustPaws]

VIN is very cool. MSU has a VR rectal palpation thing, which I did yesterday. But I actually preferred the inflatable model. Others really loved the VR.

 

[vetmedhead]

As an aside, a big plus for working with actual specimens is the ability to get an idea of individual anatomic variations, so I highly recommend that you get a chance to take a look at your classmates' specimens as well and see how much funky stuff is going on.

I think a problem with models and programs is that things are presented very consistently (e.g. the model has ideal anatomy or the program largely has images made from one or two dogs) and I think, while useful, over relying on these things can lead to a releatively stereotypic understanding of the anatomy that doesn't do well when challenged by different (but still normal) anatomy.

Obviously these programs are hugely helpful (I would know nothing without CSU's VCA program, personally), just don't forget to supplement your studying with specimens and preparations!

 

[ajs513]

As an aside, a big plus for working with actual specimens is the ability to get an idea of individual anatomic variations, so I highly recommend that you get a chance to take a look at your classmates' specimens as well and see how much funky stuff is going on.

I think a problem with models and programs is that things are presented very consistently (e.g. the model has ideal anatomy or the program largely has images made from one or two dogs) and I think, while useful, over relying on these things can lead to a releatively stereotypic understanding of the anatomy that doesn't do well when challenged by different (but still normal) anatomy.

Obviously these programs are hugely helpful (I would know nothing without CSU's VCA program, personally), just don't forget to supplement your studying with specimens and preparations!

From what the student admissions reps said on interview day at Penn, you get the opportunity to look at other specimens so you don’t just learn off of one. I’ll say though, I was extremely lucky that my undergrad university offered comparative mammalian anatomy, and the professor there stressed that we should always rotate at the dissection stations so that we could see the different variations of the species’ anatomy. Also, if anyone here hasn’t tried a true virtual reality anatomy program (or virtual reality in general), seriously give it a try. I’ve tried a few for human anatomy and it’s really incredible. I remember one that put the 3D reconstruction of an entire human body from a CT in the program and you could manipulate an extremely realistic body that way. The simulators that you use on computers don’t even begin to compare to virtual reality ones. If a mall near you offers a virtual reality demo (Microsoft stores usually do) PLEASE try it. It’s tough to describe what virtual reality is like to someone who has never used it.

 

[that redhead]

It’s a neat idea for concepts I suppose, but my feeling is that anatomy isn’t really conceptually difficult, it’s just that you have to memorize every little blessed thing. It’d be even better if they could make it for physiology or some other more conceptual subject. That’s my two cents anyway

 

[ajs513]

It’s a neat idea for concepts I suppose, but my feeling is that anatomy isn’t really conceptually difficult, it’s just that you have to memorize every little blessed thing. It’d be even better if they could make it for physiology or some other more conceptual subject. That’s my two cents anyway

I know for humans there are ones that incorporate physiology. Look up ShareCare You. For the heart, for example, you can break down the heart into different properties and see the electrical flow, and simulate different diseases and see the effects and why those effects happen. What I want to do is generate more interest in virtual reality at the student level so that people can understand what they’re missing. Ask anyone who has a virtual reality system (so... not a ton of people but we’re out there!) what their favorite part of owning one is, and most will say it’s the look in people’s faces when they try it for the first time. It’s really impossible to explain how different it is than just using a computer. Standing inside of a heart the size of a house and seeing it beat helped me understand a heart’s anatomy so much better than anything else I learned from. Of course dissections were extremely useful and at the end of the day you’re applying what you learn to patients in front of you, but learning everything on something that you can physically touch in zero gravity and blow up to 50x its normal size is really amazing. It helped me to solidify all of the things that I was unsure about, and I could get much closer to the little parts than i could on a real specimen.