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He consulted with a representative from a major player in the medical imaging
industry and researched how Hollywood was applying 4K technology.
Meanwhile, manufacturers of medical monitors and laparoscopes told him oper-
ating in 4K would prove impossible. "They said if I tried it, I wouldn't see any-
thing of value," recalls Dr. Palter. "I laughed because that's the same thing they
told me when I did it with HD."
In 2007, he flew to the annual conference of the National Association of
Broadcasters in Las Vegas, the leading trade event for TV and movie execs.
There were 120,000 people in attendance. Guess who was the only physician?
Dr. Palter paid his way for the sole purpose of meeting representatives from Red
Digital Cinema, a camera company on the cutting edge of developing ultra HD
for the entertainment industry.
At the meeting, he was blown away by the first movie ever shown in 4K.
Afterward, he waited in a line at the Red Digital booth that wrapped around the
exhibit hall. When he finally stood in front of Ted Scherwitz, top dog at the com-
pany and self-proclaimed leader of the imaging rebellion, Dr. Palter said he
wanted to create a team that would apply 4K to health care, to take medical
visualization to the next level. Mr. Scherwitz shook Dr. Palter's hand and told
him Red Digital was all in.
Stephen Toback is a regular at the NAB meetings. Within a week of seeing the
technology at last year's conference, the senior manager and media architect of
interactive technology services at Duke University in Durham, N.C., thought this
is going to be huge for medicine.
He met with Leonard White, PhD, director of education at the Duke Institute
for Brain Sciences to share his impressions of the stunning images he saw in
Vegas. Dr. White told him of the seminal moment in medical students' careers,
when gross anatomy lessons are replaced with detailed dissections of specific
anatomy. Wouldn't it be great to capture the dissections in 4K?
"As that's done, they look at all the connecting structures of the brain one by
one. It's an amazing thing to film and project onto a screen," says Mr. Toback.
V I S U A L I Z A T I O N
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