Boston Children's Hospital Partners with Fractured FX

Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH; MA, USA) has launched a collaboration with special effects company Fractured FX (Monrovia, CA, USA) to develop ultra-realistic models of patients' anatomy for surgical and medical training.

The hyper-realistic simulation models will include realistic skin with subcutaneous fat that surgeons can dissect through; simulated muscles that can be spread; artificial tissues that bleed and pulsate; man-made blood vessels that feel real when doctors insert a catheter into them; and special gels that mimic the texture of brain tissue when an endoscope is guided through them. Using the new models will allow clinicians to practice and rehearse difficult or complex medical procedures without any risk to patients.

The initial models include a realistic model of the neck and upper chest, including blood vessels and the vagus nerve, designed to train surgeons to treat critically ill children on heart-lung bypass (ECMO), which involves introducing catheters into the internal jugular vein and carotid artery. The second trainer is used to teach surgical residents how to perform endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) for treating hydrocephalus. SIMPeds, the BCH simulator program, will design and Fractured FX will be in charge of the manufacturing of the models, which will also be commercially offered to other medical centers.

“This is the nexus of medicine and art, surgery and cinema; getting the look and feel right is very important, particularly to surgeons and proceduralists,” said Peter Weinstock, director of BCH SIMPeds. “Other simulators exist, but their aesthetics and anatomy are fairly rudimentary, making it hard to keep people's heads in the game. To make simulations effective, you want to promote suspension of disbelief, to create an environment where everyone believes that they're working on a real child.”

“A lot of us had aspirations in medicine, and have collaborated with prosthesiologists to help improve prosthetics artistically. We wanted to take our skills in special effects to try and help people,” said Justin Raleigh, CEO of Fractured FX. “We've had to come up with new techniques to develop the elements you'd see in surgery, something we never had to do for film.”

Related Links:
Boston Children’s Hospital
Fractured FX