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O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4
How do we know? "Technology follows Moore's Law," explains
Steven Palter, MD, citing the wisdom of Intel founder Gordon Moore.
"The law in essence says that the speed of your computer processor
doubles its power at a lower cost about every 3 years. In other words,
if you get a top-of-the-line computer now, you might pay $10,000, but
the current $3,000 model blows away the $10,000 one from a few years
ago." The price for vastly improved visualization will soon be compara-
ble, he says, and given the choice, people will always choose the better
system.
But can visualization really be dramatically improved? Haven't we
gone about as far as we can go? After all, in just over 100 years, we've
gone from the first choppy, black-and-white surgical footage ever
recorded (in 1904), to much smoother film, to color film (in the 30s
and 40s), to video (in the 70s and 80s), to color video and eventually
to the high-def video we see in virtually every OR now.
S U R G I C A L V I D E O
NEW DIMENSION
Relating 2-dimension-
al images to 3-dimen-
sional spaces, which
can take years to
master, won't be nec-
essary when 3D takes
hold in the OR.
