4K Technology Provides Most Accurate View Inside the Human Body

Ultra-high resolution digital cameras with 4,096 (4K) lines of resolution, four times the resolution of high definition (HD), are providing unprecedented realism to surgery documentation.

Steven F. Palter, M.D., an obstetrician, gynecologist, reproductive endocrinologist and fertility specialist at North Shore Syosset Hospital (NY, USA), in conjunction with RED Digital Cinema Camera Company (Lake Forest, CA, USA), Sony Electronics (Tokyo, Japan), and the University of Southern California Cinema Arts School (Los Angeles, USA; cinema.usc.edu), presented a demonstration of endoscopic gynecologic surgery documented for the first time using a RED one digital camera with 4K technology. The diagnostic images were presented in a specially built digital theater with a projector designed to run "ultra-HD" movies in high-end movie theatres. The images from that surgery were shown at the 65th annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), held during October 2009 in Atlanta (GA, USA), with the 3,500 reproductive medicine specialists in attendance able to visualize the surgery as if they were standing in the operating room.

"Through the use of this digital technology, Hollywood is moving from observation to immersion -- you're not just watching something, you are there," said Dr. Palter. "The images are the sharpest, most detail-rich and color-correct endoscopic images ever created anywhere; there is not a more accurate view inside the human body. It's a prime example of how Hollywood film technology can be used to transform medicine by enabling doctors to see more accurately inside the body to study and treat disease.”

The session also included a projection of the largest HD three-dimensional (3D) surgical images ever, generated by a method developed to attach the Red One 4K camera to a laparoscope. The images were converted into a 4K digital cinema movie that was projected on the top-of-line Sony SRX-R220 projector.

Related Links:
North Shore Syosset Hospital
RED Digital Cinema Camera Company
Sony Electronics
University of Southern California Cinema Arts School