Presented at the 1998 APIII Conference Return to 1998 Abstract Index
ANNOTATED IMAGES IN MEDICINE: THE VISIBLE HUMAN, A GUIDED TOUR
http://www.madsci.org/~lynn/VH/
Brigham Women's Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts
Lynn Bry, MD, PhD
"The Visible Human - A Guided Tour" provides an introduction to human anatomy. The tour uses images and animations based on material from the Visible Man dataset. In particular, the site uses "annotated images" as a primary teaching tool. These images link graphical elements to text and hypertext-based annotations. The clickable interface is easy-to-use, outlines selected elements in the image, and provides an interactive means for learning about an image's graphical content. Search functions allow users to locate pictorial elements and associated annotations within an archive of images (i.e., examples of basophils in images of bood smears). A Perl/CGI script maintains the interface, and functions in any graphically capable browser. The online archive of annotated images includes examples of anatomic cross-sections, radiological data, electron micrographs and histological slides (http://www.madsci.org/~lynn/VH/annotated.html).
Though intended as site to introduce students and the public to human anatomy, the possibilities of using web-based interfaces to link graphical elements with text-based annotations has great potential use in areas such as telepathology and continuing medical education.
