Firsthand Technology Helps Doctors Reduce Burn Victims’ Pain with 3DVIA Virtools

DS PLM SUCCESS STORY Firsthand Technology Helps doctors reduce burn victims’ pain with 3DVIA Virtools Overview Challenge Doctors at the University of Making technology work “The immersive nature of SnowWorld is Washington School of Medicine for people what makes it so effective,” Hoffman needed a more flexible version Burn patients must endure both their says. “Wound care sessions are the only of SnowWorld, a virtual reality initial injuries and the excruciating wound time patients get to see their burns. approach to relieving burn patients’ Watching the nurse work on their open pain by distracting them during care treatments that follow. But pain wound treatment. experts at the University of Washington burn wounds doesn’t make for a positive Schools of Medicine and Engineering are experience, especially for children. Solution using a 3D virtual reality (VR) application Immersing themselves in SnowWorld Commissioned by the University of called SnowWorld, developed by doctors draws patients’ minds away from the pain Washington, Firsthand Technology and built by Firsthand Technology in and blocks their view of the real world for leveraged 3DVIA Virtools and 3DVIA Virtools and running on NVIDIA a while.” NVIDIA graphics to create a version of SnowWorld that is even more graphics solutions, to distract patients immersive and can be changed and from their pain. In many cases, patients Although initial success with SnowWorld updated easily. experience not just a lowered perception was impressive, researchers predicted of pain, but as much as a 50% reduction that a more immersive environment Benefits in pain-related brain activity, as would yield higher degrees of pain relief. Patients report their perception of documented by brain scans. So Hoffman and Patterson turned to pain when immersed in SnowWorld University of Washington colleagues is reduced by as much as half. Howard Rose and Ari Hollander, then 3DVIA Virtools allows Firsthand University of Washington’s Dr. Hunter Technology to quickly and easily Hoffman, a virtual reality researcher, and part of the university’s Human Interface adapt SnowWorld to test researchers’ Dr. Dave Patterson, a pain and hypnosis Technology (HIT) lab, for assistance. new hypotheses in burn pain therapy, expert, created the first version of the further improving treatment. environment they call SnowWorld in Hollander, an expert in 3D immersion 1998 using video game technology. technology, and Rose, a designer of Initially developed with funding from virtual environments, formed Firsthand Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen and Technology with a mission of “making the National Institutes of Health, technology work for people.” The SnowWorld whisks burn patients away company, which also develops to an icy canyon where snowflakes fall applications ranging from treatment of and patients can shoot snowballs at post-traumatic stress disorder to medical snowmen and other targets. training applications, optimizes software “3DVIA Virtools allows us to create a diverse range of applications for the widely varied needs of our customers.” Howard Rose, Founder and President, Firsthand Technology interfaces to extend the impact of factors for the widely varied needs of our such as sound, touch and visuals in VR customers.” environments. Focus on NVIDIA 3DVIA Virtools’ rendering capabilities, Flexibility for change which allow designers to create dynamic “We rebuilt SnowWorld with 3DVIA shader effects and character animation Virtools from Dassault Systèmes to in real-time on NVIDIA graphics Firsthand Technology uses a range of make it simpler to modify,” Hollander solutions, set it apart from similarly graphics solutions from DS technology says. “The flexibility of 3DVIA Virtools priced VR solutions. “The cost-to- partner NVIDIA, the world leader in allows SnowWorld’s creators to more performance ratio and ease of use of visual computing tools. Firsthand selected NVIDIA solutions for their easily test different experimental 3DVIA Virtools are key factors,” Rose high-performance rendering and says. “3DVIA Virtools allows us to hypotheses and identify factors relevant physical simulation capabilities when to better pain control.” employ particles, shaders and creating content, and their flexibility for sophisticated textures to deliver a highly different markets. With 3DVIA Virtools, Hollander says, attention-grabbing experience. We developers can easily manipulate what prefer the professional-quality NVIDIA they already have. “Dr. Hoffman wanted Quadro solution for our development us to alter the field of view, for instance. environment, and the Geforce cards That would have taken significant time on targeted to the consumer market enable other platforms. But with 3DVIA Virtools, us to deploy SnowWorld more affordably we can fine-tune quickly and easily.” in hospitals.” “3DVIA Virtools is versatile enough to let “In the 3DVIA Virtools version of us explore a variety of options without SnowWorld, the snowflakes are just investing so much time and effort testing incredible,” Dr. Hoffman says. “The out an idea that we feel locked into magical 3D snowflakes help patients keeping the change regardless of its feel ‘there’ in SnowWorld, which leads to usefulness,” Dr. Hoffman confirms. greater pain relief. The software takes “Virtools has become an integral part of full advantage of the faster computers our research team’s success” available today and really adds a lot of “Immersing themselves in 3D depth. It is also much simpler to SnowWorld draws patients’ Simply powerful install and start using.” minds away from the pain and The fact that 3DVIA Virtools is easy for blocks their view of the real non-programmers to use is one of its Programming speed is another key world for a while. 3DVIA Virtools biggest advantages, Rose says. “I can advantage. “3DVIA Virtools’ built-in has become an integral part of put my ideas directly into practice. functionality and flexibility facilitate rapid our research team’s success.” Rather than relying on a team of prototyping,” Hollander says. “Our programmers, a small, nimble clients appreciate that they can see their concepts evolve quickly, which Dr. Hunter Hoffman, Director of the development team can achieve a lot VR Analgesia Research Center, with 3DVIA Virtools. Firsthand is a small enhances the collaborative design University of Washington Schools of company, and Virtools allows us to process and the client’s satisfaction with Medicine and Engineering create a diverse range of applications the final product.” Dassault Systèmes 10, rue Marcel Dassault 78140 Vélizy-Villacoublay, France Tel: +33 (0) 1 61 62 61 62 SolidWorks®, CATIA®, DELMIA®, ENOVIA®, Top left image copyright Hunter For more information on Firsthand SIMULIA® and 3D VIA® are registered Hoffman, UW. Other images courtesy of Technology, visit www.firsthand.com trademarks of Dassault Systèmes or its Firsthand Technology. subsidiaries in the US and/or other countries. © Copyright Dassault Systèmes 2010. For more information on the University All Rights Reserved. of Washington Schools of Medicine and NVIDIA, PhysX, Quadro and Geforce are Engineering, visit http://uwmedicine. trademarks or registered trademarks of For more information or to washington.edu or www.vrpain.com NVIDIA. contact a sales representative, visit www.3ds.com/contacts For more information on NVIDIA, visit www.nvidia.com.

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