Interactive 3D autopsy table

Juniper Foo | Oct 22, 2009

The reel: A scene from CSI: NY where Gary Sinise's character Mac scans a body and uploads the imagery to the CSI Lab where a 3D holographic model is created. (Credit: CBS)

Finally. That fantastical 3D interactive autopsy table seen in Bones and CSI: NY, and poohed-poohed by a friend as a product of Hollywood ingenuity, is about to take the leap from reel to real. Thanks to progress in multitouch and 3D technology, this area of science, technology and fantasy is merging to give forensic scientists another tool in their investigative arsenal. The 3D virtual autopsy table, developed by the Swedes, takes a CT scan of a body in under 20 seconds. Then using a specially developed technique known as "quantative synthetic MRI", the software converts the layer by layer data sets provided by the scans to render a 3D hologram of the victim's body.

The real: A Virtual Autopsy Table being demonstrated by professor Anders Persson of CMIV in Sweden recently. (Credit: Norrköping Visualization Center/CMIV)

The final product may not be as Hollywood slick, but the examiner can "peel" back layers of virtual skin and muscle to look at organs and bones in microscopic detail, zoom in and out, cut through sections with a virtual scalpel, and even control the layer transparency. The lack of gore and decomposed delights aside, the e-autopsy could prove revolutionary not only to the departed, but also to the living. Scroll down to watch the Virtual Autopsy Table in action.