With the help of iChat and an application called OsiriX surgeons and doctors can now produce high quality 3D images for seminars during actual surgeries.

The 3D image is an important aspect of medical development and Apple is now further developing applications around this market.  With the OsiriX 3D medical images are now possible on a Mac.

These new images will allow doctors to diagnose disease at a much easier and faster rate.  The 3D images are such a valuable tool to these physicians because they allow them to view irregular shaped tumors or glands which could not be seen with the traditional 2-D views.

This software is widely used at places like UCLA where digital imaging is a must.  These Picture Archiving Communication Systems are not cheap as they cost up to 6 figures.  OsiriX will run both on the Intel and PowerPC based Macs and will reduce the cost of these PACS ten fold.  The cost can be up to 20 times less than the tradition PACS.  Due to the low price there are already 8,000 OsiriX users in the fields of radiology, medical physics and other biomedical fields.

The training on OsiriX is said to be minimal compared to it’s predecessors in software.  Osirix gives the user a chance to learn the principles and move on to more advanced stuff in a short period of time.

While data can be one of the most important things in medical diagnosis OsiriX is helping doctors visualize what the problem could be.  With the 3D components doctors are now pulling up images on their PowerBook.  One reason this can be so important say a couple doctors is that they can now view images and compare results away from the office.

One of the most important features of OsiriX is the ability to share data and images with multiple users at once.  Doctors can plug into iChat and talk over possible diagnosis and work with each other on a client from across the world.  This integration and team work is a huge advancement among the medical world.

News Source:  Apple.com Medical News