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iPad Used During Surgery in Japan

A doctor at Kobe University uses an iPad to display and zoom in on images during a surgical procedure:

As you can see, however, it is less than perfect. Because of sanitary concerns, the ipad is covered with plastic wrap, which makes the images on the screen harder to see. There also seems to be no stand for the iPad, so two people are required to hold it in place.

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29 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - June 2, 2010 at 7:26 am

Categories: Technology Tags:

Kono

I wonder what happens if they doctors accidentally drops the iPad during a operation…..

“Oh no! *slip*….*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*
tora

Don’t they have monitors for this? Wonder who the patient is and if they volunteered to have this done or not….

LB

Yes, but the iPad has that touch-screen thing going on, so doctors can manipulate the imagery much easier during surgery.

They should have a dedicated stand, though. Perhaps they should buy the iRack?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw2nkoGLhrE

http://whatjapanthinks.com Ken Y-N

Err, aren’t you supposed to have rigorous tests of any sort of equipment before you go bringing it into an operating theatre? At a minimum, the wifi might cause interference with other stuff in the room.
cambiosa

just heard the lastest news…

apparently Apple has not rejected this new app and the surgeons are no longer allowed
to use the iPad for this purpose. Apple apparently wanted a cut of the surgeon’s
fees(25% according to some reports) on all future surgeries, but the surgeon refused.

tokyojesusfist

I’m going to guess that you just made that up. How could Apple possibly demand a percentage of someone’s salary because they use an iPad?

fish taco

Yea I don’t think they can demand someones salary but they do have control over what software you are allowed to install. Anything you install has to come from the App Store. The wording in this post is very difficult to understand.

fish taco

This sounds kind of fishy to me. What app are they using anyway? I guess they have somehow fitted a camera to it since it does not come with one. I do not know the details in this case but if they wrote custom software to perform this surgery trick they would have to get it approved by Apple or install it illegally. Are you trying to say they are using a hacked iPad for this experiment?

bpl

The news story said that what they were looking at was not a live image but the results of a CT scan, so they probably just exported some images from their workstation and loaded them to the built-in Photos app. However, you can actually install whatever app you want on your iPad if you enroll to the developer program ($99/year). Also, DICOM (a popular medical image format) viewer is already available for iPhone and should appear for iPad soon enough.

pixel_bomber

They do make touchscreen monitors with much clearer displays, but I guess these are cheap. Plus he can play iTunes in the background am I right?
Vonskippy

Yeah, surgical monitors (with touch screens) is nothing new, and WAY better resolution, zooming, etc. This smacks of a stunt – or maybe the doctor just wanted to check his stock portfolio.
toro

It’s 2010 folks it’s time for those cool thin bendable, stretchable tablet computers OLED?,not this plastic piece of made in China junk which you can’t even put into your pocket and too big. Not worth it sorry Jobs.
level3

Doctor at public uni uses iPad in surgery?
Motivation.
Doctor justifies purchase of electronic toy for office
with Japanese tax money, or if smart, by getting it free from Apple, “for research”.
AND gets on TV for it.

But still, it’s probably at least 10 times cheaper than a purpose-built medical monitor.
Though if they already HAVE such monitors, then it’s a waste.
toro

Yeah look just have zero respect for Apple you know, they are the major tech thieves, basically no denying this that they flatly stole the invention of the Walkman from Sony.
At least Microsoft has earned some kind of respect not having to feed off like
a parasite like Apple.

The cool Sony Location Free TV for example could have been something, even the
PSP portable

fish taco

I’m not exactly an Apple fan boy but when they make nice products I’ll give them credit. I’m not sure how you can say they stole the intention of the Walkman from Sony. Walkman is a Sony brand that stretches all the way back to cassette tape players and radios. I mean the iPod is a portable music device but if you are going to say they stole that idea then you have to say that hundreds of companies stole that idea since the 1970′s. I think the concept of a portable music device is a very broad idea. To lay claim to all such products would be like saying everyone manufacturing a car today is stealing.

Actually I would go as far as to say that I think the iPod is almost as revolutionary as the Walkman was when it first came on the scene. I shopped for MP3 players quite a bit back when they were first coming out and Apple had the best thing on the market by far. The original navigation they used was simply brilliant at the time. There was really no serious competition in the market of portable MP3 players for a long time. In fact some would debate that here still is no “serious” competition.

In regards to this story, I personally I think the iPad is just an over sized iPod and it’s not something I would ever use. But I think the iPod is an amazing and ground breaking device. I like some Sony and Microsoft products as well, and I don’t care for the Apple zombies who buy anything they produce, but you gotta give them credit for the original iPod.

toro

The Ipod and Ipad are trying to be Walkman wannabes, the Walkman should lead this area not Ipod or Ipad from Apple…it’s just the fact Apple simply took from the Walkman (it’s not Apple’s idea sorry nice try) and profited from it..why people can’t understand that nothing beats an original…Apple’s deal is like a bad sequel to the original movie.

fish taco

I’m sure if Sony would produce a better mobile device they would lead this market. If I’m not mistaken when Apple was releasing the iPod Sony was still messing around with those awful Mini Disk players. If Sony had been less focused on proprietary technology they may have gotten the jump on Apple but that did not happen. The things that made the iPod successful initially was it’s easy of use compared to other designs as well as it’s size weight and capacity. The click wheel was quite amazing design at the time and provided a great navigation system. Even though Apple did not invent that technology they were the only one using it. Now maybe Sony produced some iPod like MP3 player before Apple but I have never seen it. I’d love to see a link to it if it does exist. Please back up your claim with some evidence.

It’s true Sony may get credit for inventing portable music by bringing it to a large audience but in the end they lost to better design. In my opinion Walkman has not been a leader in portable media since they were playing cassette tapes or perhaps CD’s for a while. I have to say your devotion to Sony is almost as bad as some peoples devotion to Apple, kind of ironic.

Sony’s Walkman did some great things in it’s time but portable music players (radios made by RCA) have been around since the 1950′s, prior to the Walkman brand. Sony took something that already existed and made it better, later Apple came along and did the same thing. I’m not sure how you can’t see that.

toro

How can you even deny Apple stole Sony’s Walkman idea!?
http://www.joenelumal.com Jumal

This waterproof iPad case could be a great help in the procedure…
http://www.machoe.com/3071/trendydigital-water-proof-ipad-case.html

it also have a neck strap for easy handling..
toro

A computer that is paperless, wireless, and floats in thin air, that would be cool!

helical

Paperless? Are you telling me you’re unsatisfied with punch cards?

ini

look like some kind of advertising:

“See, you sheeple, you must buy an ipad because it can do even *that*”
toro

I’m sorry for everything I posted about Apple. I finally did some research and found that Ipod was not a copy and that Sony failed to keep up with newest technology MP3. Sony failed and is trying to catch up.

tora

takes an adult to own up to their mistakes….now maybe next time you will look before you call “wolf”…
toro

Hey you can’t use the same name dude lol

tora

its not the same name…. yours means tuna …mine tiger…..berry berry different….

http://colininjapan.com Colin

If i were to awaken from a surgical procedure only to learn the surgeon used on IPad I’d probably punch the surgeon in the face.

Not really, but still? An IPad? Is that what the world is coming to?

LB

If it helped the doctor do his job better and let him save my life, I wouldn’t care if he was banging two rocks together to make fire for better illumination so he could see what he was doing.

But that’s just me.

T-rock

Yup the Ipad is a bummer
Can’t even do Adobe flash with it lol
No camera
No SD card slot
No One-Seg TV ability

They messed up on this one nice try Apple but no cigar

iPad Used During Surgery in Japan

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